


they tell me to forget (but i don’t want to)

by someoneyouloved



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Slow Burn, Strangers to Enemies to Lovers, also hizzie as best friends/platonic soulmates, and by better i mean josie, at least that’s the goal, basically a season two fix-it fueled by my rage after 2.08, basically legacies season two but make it hosie, because hope mikaelson deserves better, because it’s what we deserve, because my babies are an angsty mess, because what was that shit, if julie won’t give her happiness i will, i’m gonna fix them, kind of, season two rewrite
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:34:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 95,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22277194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/someoneyouloved/pseuds/someoneyouloved
Summary: “And me?” Josie’s voice is fragile, raw. “What about me, Hope?”“I’m doing this for you, Josie. For everyone. Once Malivore’s gone, you’ll all be safe.”“Without you.”“Yes,” Hope said, taking a single, shuttering breath to steady herself. “Without me.”—josie and hope were in love. now, she doesn’t even know hope exists.ORthe season two fix-it, but make it hosie.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson & Josie Saltzman, Hope Mikaelson & Lizzie Saltzman, Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 170
Kudos: 904





	1. if you look at what we once had

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! so, if you haven’t figured it out already, i’m just a tad obsessed with hosie. this is the first fic i’ve written for them, and it’s basically a rewrite of season two where i selfishly fulfill my own wishes for hosie content because the writers insist on ruining their development. 
> 
> also, this got very long very fast. if anyone actually manages to read this whole thing, i would love it if you left a comment telling me what you liked/didn’t like/want to see more of! hope you enjoy!!

_“Hey, is everything okay? Did you find Landon?”_

_The moment that Hope hears Josie’s voice, she knows she’s made a mistake._

_At first, before she remembers what she’s about to do, all she feels is relief. She sways on her feet, clutches the phone a little tighter, the fact that Josie is talking and breathing and_ alive _unraveling the knot of fear and anxiety in her chest she had refused to even acknowledge until now._

 _After the events of the past year, Hope had thought she was prepared for anything. She’d fought gargoyles and zombies, experienced the loneliness of Malivore firsthand under the Necromancer’s manipulations, been_ _possessed by mind-controlling slugs... hell, she’d slayed a_ dragon _, for God’s sake. And yet, when Burr had aimed his gun at her, Josie, and Lizzie, all of her bravado had abandoned her. She had_ _already replayed that moment in her head a thousand times, and reached one conclusion: she should have done_ _something,_ anything _, to keep Josie from getting shot. It was her fault, plain and simple. If she had just listened to Alaric for once,_ like Josie had told her to _, then they never would have been in that situation to begin with. And even then, she should have done more. Been faster, stronger, smarter,_ better. _Isn’t_ _that what Kaleb always said? That they were better than humans? Well, she hadn’t been, and Josie had paid the price._

 _It had been even worse in that cell. She was used to feeling restless, had taught herself to ignore the near-constant urge to turn, the itch beneath her bones that never truly went away. But a different kind of tension had found her today, the origin of the knot in her chest, a brand of panic that’d had her clutching the cell bars to hide the fact that her hands were shaking. Lizzie’s reprimand had snapped her out of it momentarily, but it had been Josie’s hand in hers and her voice— soft and steady and so very_ Josie _— that had shaken her from the grip of that debilitating fear and allowed her to_ think _._

_They’d had a plan: find whatever was blocking their powers, deactivate it, and then Lizzie would be able to siphon the Malivore mud from Josie and she’d be fine._

She’d be fine. _Hope had lost count of how many times she’d told herself that today just to keep herself from abandoning Landon to whatever fate Malivore intended for him and rushing back to Mystic Falls. And now..._

 _Josie_ was _fine. She was safe and alive and waiting for Hope to come back to her. Their fight during the pageant seemed ridiculous now, the hurt of seeing Josie with Penelope dull and unimportant when compared to the thought of never seeing her again. They could be together. They could be_ happy _._

_And none of it even mattered._

•••

**JUNE**

Josie had always liked summer vacation. 

Once everyone packed up and left for the holidays, she and Lizzie had the whole school (and their dad) to themselves. It had always reminded her of when they were kids. 

This year was different. 

Lizzie had booked herself a first-class ticket to Europe to visit their mom, and would be spending the summer pilfering the boutiques of Via Condotti and flirting with cute boys with accents. 

Josie, however, despite her sister’s protests, had decided to stay in Mystic Falls. Alone. Well, not entirely. After his unintentional role in allowing Triad to invade the school, her dad had been voted out of the headmaster position, and as a result they’d been spending _a lot_ more time together. Then again, it wasn’t like she was trying particularly hard to get rid of him. Josie knew that if she asked for space, her dad would give it to her, but the truth was she felt guilty. 

3 to 1. She stood by her decision, but that wouldn’t make it hurt any less when her dad inevitably learned the truth.   
  
So, she stayed. To look after him, to assuage her own guilt. It was a win-win situation. Or so she kept telling herself. 

_This is a good thing, Josie._

And it was. She’d told Lizzie she was taking strides to be less codependent, and that’s exactly what this was. An important step, a summer without her sister. 

_This is a good thing, Josie._

If she says it enough, maybe she’ll start to believe it. 

° ° °

“Mom didn’t tell you anything else about this thing?”

“Only that it’s called an Ascendant. And you and I made it with Aunt Bonnie when we were five,” said Lizzie. 

Or, to be more accurate, Lizzie’s hologram. It had been her sister’s idea, a way to stay in touch while also keeping their magic sharp over the summer. Josie didn’t understand why they couldn’t just FaceTime like normal people, but she had to admit the execution on Lizzie’s part had been all but flawless. As long as Josie was holding the crystal Lizzie had charmed, her sister would appear as a moving, talking, fully-functioning version of herself. It was similar magic to the prism Emma had given Lizzie so she could talk to their parents during one of her episodes, except that this was actually Lizzie, not a projection of Josie’s subconscious.

It had been strange at first, especially since they couldn’t touch, but Josie had gotten used to it. Now, Lizzie and her were lying on her bed and staring at the ceiling, the crystal in her hand illuminated by a soft pink light, their current topic of conversation the magical object she’d taken from their dad’s office, which according to Lizzie was called an Ascendant. It was lying on the bed between them, a golden sphere of gears and bands of metal. Josie could sense the magic it contained, which was a considerable amount, but she still had no idea what it _did_. 

The fact that they’d had a hand in creating it explained why it looked so familiar. It wasn’t particularly useful information, but it was more than what she’d been able to get out of their dad, so Josie considered it a win.  
  
“Does it have anything to do with the merge?” She asked, wracking her brain for any connection to the hundreds of texts she’d been pouring over in the library. Another benefit to her staying at the school: lots of time and resources to dedicate to Merge research. Not that it was yielding any results. There were vague mentions of the Merge in various texts, all referencing the Gemini coven, but any information about what it entailed, or how to prevent it from happening, had been scourged from the Salvatore School Library. Her dad’s doing, no doubt. 

“I don’t know,” said Lizzie, sounding just as irritated by their parents refusal to answer their questions as Josie was. “She’s being cagey about it. I—“

Suddenly, Lizzie stopped talking. Josie looked at her, only to find the other side of the bed empty. Ugh. Stupid prism connection.

A moment later, the crystal was glowing and Lizzie was beside her again. 

“Sorry. Mom almost busted me.”

“You know we can facechat like normal people?” Josie asked, pulling herself off of the bed and padding across the room to her dresser. 

“We aren’t normal,” said Lizzie. “And we need to keep our magic sharp over the summer.” 

They’d had this argument before. She always loses. 

“How’s therapy going?” Josie asked, eager for a change of subject. 

“Fine,” Lizzie mumbled. She was probably sick of Josie asking, but she’s been trying to seem invested. “There is this _sexy_ Swedish guy whose session is after me on Tuesday’s,” she continued, instantly perking up. “I think he’s Swedish, maybe Polish...”

Josie was only half-listening, focused on returning the Ascendant to it’s hiding place. She’d been taking it out whenever she and Lizzie talked, hoping it would jog some long-buried memory of theirs. So far, it wasn’t working. 

Lizzie was still talking about her sexy Swedish-maybe-Polish guy. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. He’s hot, and crazy, and the language barrier will make it impossible for us to communicate. Just how I like it,” she finished, draping herself across Josie’s bed. 

Right. Boy’s with accents.

“You should really work on that,” Josie told her, mostly for the sake of not sounding jealous. Not that she _was_ jealous. Not at all. 

“I’ll add it to the list of broken pieces to glue together.” Lizzie was staring off into space, probably thinking about sexy-Swedish boy’s eyes. 

“What about you?” She asked, rolling over to give Josie a suggestive look. “Any hot summer dates?” 

At first, she’s surprised Lizzie’s asking, but then she remembers this is the new them. Josie talks, Lizzie listens. It was nice. If only she had anything interesting to report. 

“Dad’s been like my life plus one ever since he got the headmaster boot,” she said, tucking the Ascendant back into it’s box and shutting the lid. “I honestly think he’s going through a midlife crisis.” 

“Gross,” Lizzie groaned. “Hair growth?” 

“Bushy.”

“Lady prospects?”

“Lacking,” Josie answered, and they shared an exasperated look in the mirror.

Lizzie rolled her eyes. “Are you not having any fun at _all_?”

That was the question, wasn’t it? It wasn’t the first word she’d use to describe her summer. Lizzie was halfway across the world, Kaleb and MG were in Georgia, and Josie was... Josie was here. Alone.

She’s never been good at alone.

When she’s alone, she thinks too much. Especially lately. It’s like she can’t turn her brain off. Merge research, Ascendant staring. Her conversations with Lizzie are one of the few things she actually looks forward to.

It feels like she’s trying to fill a void, like something’s missing from her life. She just can’t put her finger on what. 

“What about... wee-willy-winkle?” Lizzie asked, prompting an eye roll from Josie. 

“Landon?” Okay, so she’s not _entirely_ alone. Landon was staying at the school too, but... “He’s been keeping to himself mostly. He’s always off with Raf.”

“So ditch it all, and come to Europe!”

This is another one of their regular arguments. But this one, Josie always wins. 

“I can’t,” she said, even though Lizzie already knew her answer. “I don’t wanna leave Dad alone, I’m honestly worried he’s gonna go out and buy a tiny red car.”

She returned to her spot beside Lizzie on the bed just as her sister said, “I thought we were taking strides to be _less_ codependent.” 

“We are,” Josie insisted, turning so that they were face to face. “But there’s codependent and then there’s leaving Dad with his alarming mustache growth.” 

“Gross,” Lizzie said, grimacing.

“Yeah,” Josie agreed, trying to hide the grin that was spreading across her face. She shouldn’t be smiling. This was serious. 

But then Lizzie started giggling, and then they were both laughing. It feels nice, it feels normal, it feels like _them_.

And in that moment, Josie doesn’t feel like she’s missing anything at all.   
  


° ° °

Death was not what Hope had expected. 

She’d imagined a quiet night on the bayou, a chorus of crickets and quiet conversation, her mother’s warm embrace. Seeing her Dad again, his face untainted by the worry and pain she’d grown accustomed to in the weeks before his death. She’d imagined peace. 

Instead, there’s darkness and echoes, a void of shadows without an end or a beginning. The only sound to break the silence is her footsteps.   
  
It had been a foolish fantasy, anyway. 

“Hello?” She asked the shadows, not sure if she should hope for silence or a response. 

There was no answer. 

_Post tenebras spero lucem._

The orb of light the spell created wasn’t bright enough to penetrate the darkness, but it was a comfort to know she could at least do magic here. 

Before Hope could move forward with her light, however, a sound came from the blackness, an eerie imitation of a horn being blown. Then, the cavern was flooded with light. She turned, a hand in front of her eyes to block the blinding glare from the swirling orb of white light that had appeared above her, somehow managing to pierce the veil of darkness surrounding her. 

The ground beneath her began to shake, and Hope stumbled forward. The orb of light she’d crafted slipped from her grasp, but she didn’t bother to find it again. Even if she’d wanted to, she wasn’t sure she could have. It was an effort to turn her back on the light, to even take a single step away from it, as if her feet were suddenly made of lead. 

Suddenly, Hope was yanked off of her feet and into the air. She hit the ground a moment later, and then the light was pulling her backward, as if an invisible hand had latched onto her ankle and was refusing to let go. She tried to find something to hold onto, but the surface of the cavern’s floor was far too smooth to offer any hand holds.  
  
She couldn’t stop the scream that tore from her as she was lifted into air. Hope braced herself, ready for the light to consume her, but then there was a hand on her wrist. 

And it wasn’t invisible. 

No, this one was very real, she realized, as it pulled her down and into it’s owners arms.

“Fancy meeting you here.”

Clarke. 

° ° ° 

It took Hope a moment to realize who was holding her, but when she did she immediately extracted herself from his grip. 

“Woah,” she said, taking a step back. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Saving your life, obviously,” said Clarke, followed by that infuriating smirk of his. 

No. This was not happening. It wasn’t _right_. 

“No,” she countered. “I’m supposed to be at peace, okay? _You_ are not peace, in fact you’re the opposite of peace. So where are we?”

Clarke gave her a look, like it was obvious. “Come on, do the math.”

“It’s not that simple, okay? There are freaky cyclones and blinding lights and you’re here—“ she stopped talking, the realization hitting her. “Oh my god. We’re in hell.” 

She’d never really bought into the whole eternal damnation thing, but given her luck... 

But Clarke shook his head. “Not such thing. I think.” He paused, smirking. “Go on,” he said. “Take your best guess.”

_What was he..._

_Oh, crap._

“No,” she said, the denial already on her lips as she shoved past him. 

“Why not?”

Hope turned, already cursing herself for taking the bait. “Because I’m not gonna give you the satisfaction of telling me that I failed.” 

And because she can’t do _this_ again. Clarke’s wrong, he has to be. 

_He is,_ she told herself, ignoring the sudden tightness in her chest. 

“You mean you don’t wanna hear you’re in the blackness? That you’ve been consumed by Malivore?”

His voice was following her, a vocalization of all the traitorous thoughts in her head. And... _Malivore_. 

Gods. What had she done?

“You don’t want me to point out that all your romantic heroics were for nada? That the big bad lives to see another day, and that all your friends have forgotten you ever existed?” 

She turned to face him, unable to ignore the hurt his words had inflicted. Because he was right. She’d failed. There was no other explanation. 

But Clarke wasn’t done. “Including Josie,” he said, his smirk widening into an almost giddy grin.

“Stop talking,” she snapped, mostly to hide the fact that she could feel her hands shaking. 

_Sorry, I was eavesdropping._

He’d been listening to their phone call, had heard her tell Josie that she loved her. And that she was leaving her. God.

Clarke started talking again, but Hope didn’t bother to listen as she stormed off in the opposite direction. 

She almost thought she was going to get away with it, but then... “Hope, wait! I can help you.” 

_Oh, please_. 

“I don’t see how,” she said, though she did stop walking away from him. 

“I spent years inside this place,” he said. “And while you cannon-balling into the belly of Malivore didn’t seem to destroy him, it has changed things. So, stop being a dick to me, and maybe I’ll elaborate.”

Fine. “Okay. I’m partially listening.” 

“Every creature consumed by my father used to exist here in total isolation,” he explained, moving towards her until they were close enough to touch. Hope had to resist the instinctual urge to get as far away from him as possible. “But here we are. Talking to each other. Your presence here has somehow opened the cell doors. If you can do that, maybe there’s a way for us to escape.”

“So,” he drawled, taking another step forward so that he was looming over her. “What do you say? Partners?”

That was it? His big proposal? Who did he think she was?

_”Pass.”_

“You are such a child,” he called after her, the anger in his voice clear after her rejection. “No wonder you failed.” 

“Says the guy whose entire life has been about failing Daddy,” she snapped back, whirling around to face him. Two could play at the _words that hurt_ game. If he was going to taunt her with Josie, she’d do the same with his literal pit of mud father. “I don’t trust you, okay? And I never will.”

“You’re the one who brought me into this mess! If you had just let me meat-puppet my loser little brother... well then maybe your girlfriend would still remember you—“

That’s it. She’s done listening. 

_“Imitantor pupulus!”_

“Not again,” Clark groaned, but that was all he was able to say before his own hand clamped over his mouth. 

Hope lifted a brow, and the flare of recognition in Clarke’s eyes told her that he remembered how things had ended the last time he was in this position. She removed her hand from her mouth, unable to stop herself from enjoying the way Clarke’s own hand was shaking. 

“Your old friend,” she reminded him. “The mimic spell?”

“You will do, anything I _intend_ you to do,” she said, the words falling with every step as she walked them towards each other, an echo of her actions at Triad. She waited until they were face to face to pass her sentence. “And it is my intention that this is the last conversation we will ever have. If I were you, I’d make peace with that.” 

Clarke was struggling to speak, but it was like she’d said. She was done listening.

And with a final smirk, Hope turned her back on him and walked into the darkness. 

•••

_“Hope? Can you hear me? Is everything okay?”_

_“Yeah,” she says, staring at Landon, who is lying motionless on the ground at her feet. Because she snapped his neck. Because he would have tried to stop her._

_It doesn’t fool Josie, but she didn’t_ _expect it to. They’re well past the point of being able to lie to each other._

_“Are you sure? Where are you?” She isn’t worried yet, just concerned._

_This is the easy part. “Fort Valley, Georgia. Landon’s going to need you when I’m done, you have to write it down.”_

_“Wait, Georgia? Isn’t that where Triad’s headquarters are?”_

_“Yeah,” she says, her eyes finding Clarke’s lifeless form. “But don’t worry, everyone here is dead.”_

_“What? Hope, you’re not making any sense. I’m going to get my dad, okay? We’ll come find you—“_

_“No!” Hope snaps, panic cracking her calm facade. The last thing she_ _needs is another person to say goodbye to. “Just... don’t get your dad, okay?”_

_“What?” Josie asks, that familiar innocence back in her voice. “Why not? How else are you and Landon going to get back? Did you find another unicorn or something because...”_

_It‘s a joke, Hope realizes. Josie is laughing under her breath, the sound so familiar it hurts. Hope needs it to stop, needs_ this _to stop, before it breaks_ her. 

_“I’m not coming back, Jo.”_

•••

 **JULY**

When Josie told Lizzie she thought their dad was going through a mid-life crisis, she’d meant it. 

Ever since he’d left the school, he‘d been investigating the mystery of the Malivore pit’s destruction with an almost obsessive nature. This, of course, meant that Josie was subjected to a near constant stream of theories and questions and forensic test results. 

When she’d wanted her dad to get a life, this was _not_ what she’d had in mind. 

It was the Fourth of July, so they’d decided to spend the day in town and watch the fireworks together. Josie had to admit, it was nice to have her dad all to herself for once. Even if she missed her sister. 

“No matter what path I go down, it seems like a dead end,” he was saying. “I mean there were at least two other people with Landon the night Malivore was destroyed. They left fibers, footprints, hair... I just don’t know who they were.” 

“Isn’t that the point? If somebody went into the Malivore pit they’d be erased from our memories.” 

“Yeah, well that’s what’s haunting me. Who have we forgotten?” 

Josie wondered what that would be like. To forget someone entirely, to have your memories torn from your mind and not even know it. Would there be any way of knowing something was missing, an inkling of what you’d lost? Or was Malivore’s ability to erase people more thorough than that? 

“It couldn’t have been anyone we’ve known,” she reasoned. “There’d be keepsakes, photos... an empty bed somewhere?”

“Well, whoever they are they were important to somebody,” he said, sighing and shaking his head. 

End of conversation. Perfect time for a subject change, right? 

“So, Dad,” she said, trying her best to sound casual. “I was actually hoping we could talk about the Ascendant. What it has to do with the merge.”

Her dad hesitated, and for a moment she thought he might _actually_ tell her something, but then—

“Hey, is that Landon right there?” He said, pointing across the street to the Mystic Grill, where Landon was sitting at a table pouring over a stack of books. Probably something to do with Rafael.

Josie tried to think of a way to steer the conversation back to the Ascendant, but her dad was already halfway across the street.

Talk about dead ends.

° ° ° 

Why was it, Josie wondered, that she always ended up listening to _other_ people’s research problems? She had her own, not that anyone cared to hear about them. 

Landon was lamenting over his inability to turn Rafael back into a human, though, and she couldn’t help but feel a little guilty. She’d been so focused on the Merge and Lizzie’s absence that she had completely forgotten about Rafael’s predicament, or how it must be affecting Landon. 

“I keep hitting dead end after dead end.”

_That makes two of us._

She said as much, and couldn’t help the flicker of irritation she felt at her father’s indignation. What did he expect? For her to just drop this whole merge thing? It was _her_ future, after all. 

She turned to Landon, hoping that he would take her side. They were in the same boat, after all, right? “Landon. Can you ask my dad why he won’t give me answers to my very simple questions on how my sister and I can survive past the age of twenty-two?”

She’d done enough research, obsessed over the idea enough, the reality of it, that the words barely registered. She saw her dad flinch though, saw Landon shift uncomfortably in his seat. 

Her dad didn’t give Landon a chance to answer. “It’s because your dad doesn’t have any answers he’s able to give you, that’s why sweetheart.” 

It was condescending enough that she didn’t hold back the bite in her voice when she asked, “Able to or willing?”

“Look, there is nothing about the Ascendant you need to know.”

He sounded exasperated. Well, that made two of them. “Then why do you flinch every time I bring it up?” 

“Because it has nothing to do with the Merge, Josette, so let’s just drop it, okay?”

The use of her full name was the signal to stop pushing, and Josie couldn’t help but curl into herself slightly. She wished Lizzie was here. She’d know how to turn this back on their dad, to make him listen. 

“I’m gonna head back to campus,” Landon said, and Josie realized she’d forgotten he was there. And being subjected to their father-daughter bickering. She couldn’t blame him for wanting to make a quick exit.

“What about the fireworks?” Her dad asked.

“Oh, I’m worried they might scare Raf. I don’t want him to be alone,” he explained, gathering his books and rising from his chair. 

“I’ll come with you!”

Josie didn’t realize the implication of her words until she said them, but by then it was too late. 

Besides, she didn’t really feel like celebrating.

° ° ° 

When Josie opened her eyes, it was dark outside. 

There was a moment before she was fully awake, a hazy place between dreams and reality, where her mind was filled with fragments of... something. Almost like memories. 

A soft smile. Blue eyes and auburn curls. A silver chain. The ghost of a laugh. 

They were hazy and echoing, as if coated in a layer of fog.

They were there, and then they were gone.

Odd. She rarely remembered her dreams. 

Rubbing the exhaustion from her eyes, Josie glanced at the alarm clock on her nightstand. 

_9:57 pm._

After she and Landon had returned to the school following a _very_ awkward and silent walk back from the Mystic Grill, she had grabbed the crystal and laid down in bed to call Lizzie. She must have fallen asleep while waiting. 

In the distance, she could hear the echoing, telltale booms of the fireworks. 

Maybe she’d go for a walk, watch the fireworks from the docks.

It would be good to clear her head.

° ° ° 

“Hope! We can work this out!“

Immediately after Hope had turned her back on him and stalked off into the darkness, Clarke’s incessant whining had begun.

He’d been quiet for the past few minutes, and she’d made the mistake of falling under the false impression that she had finally walked far enough away from him and he was just shouting into the void, but clearly that wasn’t the case.

“Don’t do this to me!” 

_God, did he ever shut up?_

Her irritation, however, faltered a moment later as the echoing, hollow roar returned and the cavern was flooded with light. 

“Listen to me!” Clarke shouted at her over the roaring of the pit. “Whatever this thing is, it’s gonna destroy you!”

 _He’s just saying that,_ she told herself, though she couldn’t deny the fact that she could feel the light tugging at her, it’s pull already hard to resist.

“It’ll rip you apart!” Clarke screamed, and she had to admit he sounded genuinely terrified. She could barely make out his shadowed form in the distance, the glowing orb of light effectively blinding her.

“Please! Lift the spell so I can help you!”

Hope felt the toes of her boots being lifted off the ground.

“Hope!”

The counter spell was already on her lips, but she lost her footing and tumbled to the ground. Then the light was dragging her towards it, and she knew there was no way for her to stop it. It reached her fingertips, but before it could consume her she felt Clarke grab hold of her, throwing his arms around her waist and pulling her to the ground. 

Just like that, the light disappeared and they were left lying on the ground, a pile of entangled limbs, Clarke’s head on her back as she lay there gasping for air. 

Hope pulled herself away from her unexpected savior, ignoring his muttered _you’re welcome_ in favor of making sure all of her limbs were accounted for. 

_God, that was a close—_

Hope lifted her head ever so slightly, and that was when she saw it.

_“Oh, crap.”_

“Not exactly what I was expecting—“

Clarke didn’t finish his sentence. Because out of the blackness, a reddish glow emerged, the fiery breath of the dragon looming over them.

By the time Hope was screaming at him to run, the heat of the dragon’s fire was nipping at her heels. 

° ° ° 

The docks were burning. 

An inferno of golden fire, rising from beneath the surface of the lake and towards the wooden planks at Josie’s feet.

Landon emerged from the water slowly, apparently unfazed by the sea of fire surrounding him. He heaved himself onto the dock, soaked to the bone and gasping for air. He looked exhausted. 

She supposed dying would do that to you.

Josie didn’t know what to say. What _was_ the appropriate thing to say when you found your immortal classmate drowning himself in the lake?

Landon noticed her before she could find the answer to that question, a combination of surprise and annoyance flickering in his exhausted gaze. 

Oh, this should be good. 

“I changed my mind about the fireworks.”

° ° ° 

“It’s not a big deal.”

Was he serious? Did he not know her at _all_? Or her sister, for that matter. Lizzie was the poster child for unhealthy coping mechanisms. So was Josie, if she was being honest. Hers were just easier to hide.

“Who do you think you’re talking to?” She asked, surprised by the amount of emotion in her voice. “My sister is the queen of self-harm, I know it when I see it.” 

Above, the fireworks had begun to die down, but Josie was just getting started. 

“I’m not harming myself because I can’t _be_ harmed,” Landon said, sounding equally pissed off. “That’s the point.” 

He made it seem like that made _this_ , whatever the hell it was, okay. But Josie knew how destructive behaviors started. She wouldn’t allow this to become his. 

“Where in any of your Pheonix research does it say that the number of times you can resurrect is infinite?” She demanded, hoping Landon’s concern for his own well-being would win out against whatever the hell was making him do this. 

“Where does it say it isn’t?” Landon countered, stepping around her and heading towards the end of the dock. Back to school, away from this conversation. 

But Josie wasn’t done yet. 

“Hurting yourself doesn’t make anything better, it never does,” she said, ignoring the way her voice had begun to shake. Even now, though, she could tell how different she was from her sister. Lizzie’s anger was all fire, untempered white-hot rage, but it also died out quicker because of it. Josie was steady even when she was angry, a slow but deadly forest fire fueled by trees rooted in the earth beneath them.

“You’re right,” said Landon, turning to face her. His curls were wet, hanging in front of his eyes and making it hard to see, and he aggressively brushed them out of the way. “Maybe I should focus on other people’s problems instead of my own!”

“That’s not what I’m doing!” _This isn’t about me,_ she wanted to add. But then again... maybe it was. Either way, she wasn’t dropping this. 

“That’s a lie!” He was yelling now. They both were, she realized. 

“How do you know?” She demanded, suddenly infuriated by him acting like he _knew her_ or something. 

“Because when you lie as often as I used to...” he hesitated, losing some of his conviction. “You develop a gut feeling. I just know.”

After that confession, the anger left Josie’s body. Maybe Landon was right. Who was she kidding? She _knows_ he’s right. Focusing on other people’s problems instead of her own? That’s textbook Josie Saltzman, and she hadn’t strayed from the practice all summer.

“Okay,” she said. Landon looked almost as surprised as she was by her lack of argument. “What’re we supposed to do?”

It was the most vulnerable she’d been in a while, she realized. Ever since Penelope left, maybe, when she had asked her to stay. Or maybe it was after that, but she couldn’t quite remember. 

“You tell me,” he said, gesturing bleakly towards their surroundings. “Because to be honest with you I’m kind of at a loss.” 

_Well,_ Josie thought for the second time that day, _that makes two of us._

“Maybe we should both stop worrying so much about dying,” she said, followed by a breathy laugh. It was funny, she hadn’t realized how much the reality of her and Lizzie’s future had been weighing on her until now. “Start living a little?”

She had no answers. Merge related or otherwise, and it was clear Landon was in the same exact place she was. Stuck. Drowning. Whatever metaphor you wanted to make it, that was them. 

So, why not figure it out together?

•••

 _As soon as she says it, Hope wants to take the words back. Saying it makes it a reality, not just the outcome of this insane plan of hers, this_ loophole _that she can’t manage to talk herself out of. This is it. This is the answer, she knows it is._

_“What are you talking about?”_

_Josie’s worried now, Hope can tell. And it hurts._

_This was exactly what she wanted to avoid— the explanation, the arguing, the inevitable end to this conversation when she hangs up the phone and wipes the call history._

_This was a mistake._

_“Hope, tell me what’s going on,” Josie demands, her temper finally making an appearance. The frustration in her voice is forced though, and Hope can sense the fear behind it. She’s scaring her._

_“Clarke won,” she says, ignoring the note of hysteria that has begun to creep into her voice. “He found the final artifact and he tossed it into the pit, which is Landon’s father by the way! And now Malivore’s gonna rise unless I stop him.”_

_Josie is silent for a beat too long and when she speaks, her voice is too calm, too steady, and Hope knows she is starting to put the pieces together._

_“Stop him_ how _, Hope?”_

_“Landon got all the answers, but basically Malivore was created by the blood of a werewolf, a witch, and a vampire. It used to be that only they could destroy what they created, but Nature found a loophole. By making me. The Tribrid. I’m the loophole.”_

_“That’s enough,” Josie snaps. “I don’t care about whatever self-sacrificing martyr trip you’re on right now. This i_ s _a theory, okay, Hope? You don’t even know if it’ll work—“_

_This is what can’t happen. She can’t allow Josie to talk her out of this. Even if it’s what she wants more than anything right now._

_“Hope, are you listening to me? I’m going to get my dad, okay, and we’re going to come find you and everything’s going to be fine—“_

_“There’s no time!” She hears her voice break, but she pushes past it. “I’ve always thought that I was a cosmic mistake, someone who should never have been born. But after all this time, I mean my purpose is finally clear!”_

_“You’re not a mistake, Hope.” Josie says it like it’s a fact, not an opinion, and maybe an hour ago Hope would have believed her. But not now._

_“Think about it. I’m the answer to all of_ _this.” She_ needs _Josie to understand why she‘s doing this, to know it‘s not her fault. Even if it won’t matter in a few minutes. “I can remember things about Malivore that no one else can? That Triad weapon didn’t affect me. Did my blood heal you?”_

_“I’m not going to let you do this. Sacrifice yourself. You know that right?”_

_A yes, then. At least she did one thing right today._

_“I know, but it doesn’t matter becaus_ e _once I toss myself into that pit no one at school will remember me. Including you.”_

_“Hope, listen to me, please–“_

_That was enough. She could end the call right now, she_ should _end it, before this gets any harder. She‘s stalling, she knows that, delaying the inevitable._

_But she can’t bring herself to hang up. Not yet._

•••

**AUGUST**

_Are you having any fun at all?_

For the first time all summer, Josie could honestly say the answer to that question was yes.

Because that’s what her and Landon were. _Fun._

It was tentative at first, as if he wasn’t entirely sure she had meant _together_ when she had said they should try living a little.

He invites her to watch him cook Rafael dinner, which apparently consists of Landon making enough barbecue to feed the entire student body. They start talking though, and then there’s smoke pouring from the grill hood and all of the meat has acquired the taste of burnt charcoal. Landon confesses to her that he’s a terrible cook.

He teaches her how to play chess. And fine, maybe she cheats a little, but what Landon doesn’t know can’t hurt him, right? 

Movie nights become a _thing_ , their thing. Landon created the makeshift movie theater in the woods for him and Rafael, but they eventually stop paying attention to whether or not the wolf joins them. Josie throws popcorn at Landon whenever he makes a Star Wars reference, and tells herself that it doesn’t matter if she finds his constant nerd rambling secretly adorable.

They write songs together. In the town square, at the docks. He’s stopped going down there at night, she’s noticed. Josie can’t help but feel a small sense of satisfaction at that. Because maybe... maybe he’s found whatever he was looking for.

She’s never had someone all to herself like this, she realizes. Rafael was more Lizzie’s than he was hers, especially after their sweaty gym-sex rendezvous, which she actively tries to avoid thinking about. And Penelope... Penelope was complicated. Hard. Painful. She still can’t figure out how to separate the happy, bliss-filled memories of their relationship from the one of her standing in the foyer alone, clutching Penelope’s journal to her chest and wondering _why do people always leave?_

Landon was entirely different. And he was here, even if he didn’t like her _like that,_ and they‘re friends, aren’t they? 

So, yes. It was fun. 

She tells Lizzie as much. Needless to say, her sister is _not_ pleased.

“You and Gizmo the Gremlin?!”

“Actually,” Josie said, realizing how much Landon-esque trivia she has stored in her brain. He talks a lot, especially when he’s nervous. Or extremely comfortable with someone, she’s noticed. She’d like to think she’s the latter. “Gizmo’s a Mogwai.”

“Oh, god,” Lizzie groaned, as if Josie was causing her physical pain. “He’s got you speaking nerd.”

The Virginia heat made it too hot to stay indoors, so Josie had decided to take their conversation outside. Lizzie was leaning against a tree, dressed in an outfit that was, according to her, _all the rage_ in Europe, but Josie hadn’t even had to fake enthusiasm when Lizzie had talked about how hot the boys in Paris were, because for once she had news of her own to share. And, for the first time all summer, Lizzie had called _her_. 

She couldn’t deny it had felt good. Codependency could kiss her ass. 

“Relax,” she told her sister. “We’re just friends.”

The last thing she needed was Lizzie making this into one of her _things_. Landon was uncomplicated, Landon was _easy_ , and she intended for it to stay that way.

Lizzie rolled her eyes. “You are not _friends_! You’re a montage. Like _romantic comedy_ montage.”

“It’s been... fun,” Josie confessed, unable to stop a smile from spreading across her face. “It’s been like actual fun.”

“You know what’s actual, actual fun? Mom and I taking the speed train to Rome for the weekend. So get your ass across the pond!”

Josie loved her sister... but she was going to enjoy this.

“Love you!” She called, letting the crystal fall to the ground. 

And with that, Lizzie and all of her speed trains and Parisan fashion, vanished. 

Josie was moving on. From what, she wasn’t exactly sure. 

But it was a _good_ thing.   
  


° ° ° 

“How long do you think we’ve been here?”

Clarke and her were walking side by side now, mostly because Hope didn’t have the energy to cast another mimic spell. And fine... she doesn’t hate the company, even if it _is_ Clarke. 

“Hard to say,” he said. “Week. Month. Year. What difference does it make?”

Okay, so maybe thinking about how long they’d been stuck down here was a _bad_ idea. 

A roar sounded from the shadows, different from the echoing, eerie howling that foreshadowed the light. No, this sound was... familiar. 

“What the hell was that?” demanded Clarke, stumbling backward a few steps. 

Hope remembered the sound of stone claws scraping against wood, Josie screaming when Alaric had thrown himself in front of Hope before the gargoyle could impale her. The she remembered Josie’s hand in hers, it’s weight and the heat from her siphoning the ghost of something familiar.

It unlocked another memory— of bated breath and trembling voices and shaking hands. The warmth of Josie’s skin against hers, their legs tangled in the sheets, her hands accidentally drawing the magic from Hope’s skin when her emotions got the better of her. The _sorry_ she’d mumbled out between kisses, the way she’d traced her lips along Hope’s jaw in apology. 

“A gargoyle, I think,” Hope said, hoping her voice didn’t betray the tidal wave of emotion that memory had invoked. “I killed one once with my... friend’s.”

“You know,” she continued, disguising the hard to ignore ache in her chest with her familiar guise of snark. “My teenage friends? So why is a super villain like you scared?”

“I’m not a villain,” Clarke said, and she had to fight the urge to laugh. “I never have been. I’m just a kid whose afraid of his father and will do anything to get away from him. My entire life’s been about figuring out how. And failing. Miserably.”

_Says the guy who’s entire life has been about failing Daddy._

Okay, so perhaps she’d been a tad harsh. Not that he hadn’t deserved it. Still...

_Papilio lux._

As she cast the spell, a golden light emerged from her palms, morphing into the shape of a butterfly that moved through the shadows with ease, leaving her hands and fluttering away into the darkness. It was more of an afterthought than anything, but Hope figured she could offer Clarke this small kindness. They were stuck together, after all.

“You think that’s our ticket out?”

“No,” she explained. “It’s a comfort spell it’s... it’s supposed to provide peace of mind.”

Clarke’s smirk softened slightly. “Thank you,” he said, and for once she actually believed that he meant it. 

Before she could offer a response, the howling returned, followed by the light. She braced herself for it’s pull, but the ground had barely begun to shake when Clarke grabbed her arm.

And then the light was gone. Almost as if... as if him touching her had caused it to disappear.

She shrugged off Clarke’s hand. “Why’d you do that?”

“What?” He asked, seeming genuinely confused. She knew better than that, though. 

Before she could vocalize her suspicions, a crackling sound came from the shadows. As if someone with a broken windpipe was trying to draw breath. 

_Oh, not again._

A blur of darkness flickered through the space in front of them, and both her and Clarke flinched.

Then the monsters— monsters, plural— appeared. She hadn’t seen these before, a dozen vaguely humanoid creatures made of stone grey flesh so thin she could see the individual ribs beneath, their eye sockets sealed shut and their mouth’s stretched into horrific, toothy grins. They were flickering too, as if their forms weren’t entirely stable. She wondered if they’d be able to touch them, or if they weren’t solid enough for that.

Either way, she was not going to wait to find out. 

_Invisique._

“Meaning?” Clarke asked, not taking his eyes off of the creatures, which were moving closer and closer by the second.

“I’m invisible to them.”

“ _You’re_ invisible? What about me—“

Hope wasn’t given a chance to respond as one of the creatures arms appeared at her shoulder, it’s talons curling into the air in front of her face. As if it could sense her. 

She froze, every muscle in her body locking into place, holding back the scream that threatened to pass her lips. 

That was it.

It was a nonverbal spell this time, but a moment later the creature’s were gone, flickering and contorting as they faded into the shadows.

Hope’s heart was still racing, but it seemed Clarke had already recovered enough to taunt her. 

“Guess we’re partners after all,” he drawled, circling her with that infuriating smirk of his.

 _Oh, please._ ”I didn’t say that.”

“But you did just save my life.”

“Because you’re keeping things from me,” she said. “And I wanna know why.”

The pieces were coming together now, all she needed was confirmation. And she knew just how to get it. 

_Veritas tempus._

“Will you stop with the magic already?” Clarke asked, or _whined_ , to be more accurate. “It’s not fair.”

“Think before you answer,“ she said. “Is it unfair, or... do you deserve it?”

“I totally deserve it.”

She smirked as Clarke’s face twisted in confusion. “Guh... what? Why did I just say that?”

“Because I cast a truth spell. You can only answer me honestly.” She took a single step forward, enjoying the realization that was slowly spreading across Clarke’s face, followed by dread. “Now how does that make you feel?”

“Like this isn’t gonna end well for me.” 

Oh, this was going to be fun. 

•••

_Hope’s legs are shaking. So are her hands. Her grip on the phone is tight enough that’s she almost afraid it might shatter, but she can’t bring herself to let go._

_Josie’s rambling now, frantically trying to coax Hope back from the edge. It won’t work, though. She won’t let it._

_“I’ve spent years torturing myself,” she says, interrupting Josie. “Asking myself why my father sacrificed himself for me, to get to this point where I totally understand it!”_

_A minute ago, Josie wouldn’t stop talking. Now she’s silent. Hope thought this would be better, but for the first time since she’d picked up the phone she feels her eyes starting to burn. “I know what it’s like to live with that pain, Josie,” she_ _says, the words suddenly a whole lot harder to speak. “I don’t want that for you. And I don’t want anyone at school to miss me because they’re my friends. Maybe I would have seen that sooner if I hadn’t been beating myself up all this time.”_

_Friends. It’s the first time she’s used that word to describe them, she realizes. It fits. Lizzie. Landon. Rafael. MG. Kaleb. And..._

_“And me?” Josie’s voice is fragile, raw. “What about_ me _, Hope?”_

 _“I’m doing this_ for _you, Josie. For_ _everyone. Once Malivore’s gone, you’ll all be safe.”_

_“Without you,” Josie says, sounding angry again. It’s softer than before though, dampened by the fact that Hope can sense she’s trying to hold back tears._

_“Yes,” Hope chokes out, taking a deep, shuttering breath to keep the sob at the back of her throat from escaping. “Without me.”_

•••

“I bring him dinner everyday at five, I mean sometimes he doesn’t come out of the woods but he’s always here!”

“That doesn’t mean something happened, Raf’s a wolf it’s not like he wears a watch.” 

Long story short, Rafael hadn’t shown up for dinner, and Landon was freaking out. 

“But everyday, Josie,” Landon insisted, his movements growing increasingly panicked. ”For months. And it’s been three days and maybe I am just assuming the worst but the worst is usually what happens. And it’s bad enough that he’s stuck as a wolf but if he’s lost he’s got no one, I can’t let him be alone—“

Landon was shouting now, his voice breaking on the word _alone_. Josie could see the signs of his coming breakdown, the same way she could always tell when her sister was about to have an episode. Shaking hands, frantic pacing, not enough air in your lungs.

“Landon,” she said, taking his hands in hers, lowering her voice into the same level, steady tone she used when talking Lizzie down to ground state. “It’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna find him. I’ll do a locator spell and we’re gonna track his movements, okay?”

There was still a faint sheen of panic in his eyes, but Landon’s breathing slowed, his body stilling in her grasp. 

“I’m gonna help you,” she told him, making sure her determination and willingness to do just that was clear in her voice. 

It seemed to work, as Landon sighed and folded himself into her arms, his own wrapping around her back and pulling her close.

Landon didn’t have to worry. If there was one thing Josie was good at, it was fixing things. And she was going to fix this.

° ° ° 

Clarke had realized it was in his best interest to stop talking. Which was perfect, because it gave Hope time to explain herself. 

“This entire time, I’ve been working on a theory. You know, trying to figure out why the vortex comes? And then, I realized it’s _always_ after I do magic. Am I getting... warm?”

“Scalding,” said Clarke, the spell tugging the answer from him against his will. 

“You know it makes a lot of sense, when you think about it,” she said, turning her back to him as she studied the blackness surrounding them. “I thought that I was wrong about me being the only one who could destroy him, but I think my actual mistake was that I wasn’t a fully activated Tribrid when I dove into that pit.”

It was ironic, really. She’d even managed to kill herself the wrong way.

“I’ve never died,” she continued, even though she was fairly sure Clarke already knew everything she was telling him. “So my vampire side hasn’t been activated yet. And what I’m realizing now is that Malivore doesn’t want me here.” 

The shadows seemed to stir in agreement. 

“I’m toxic to him,” she said, turning back to Clarke. “Finish that sentence, please?”

“Malivore’s trying to expel you,” he confessed with a pained smile. “To send you back from where you came.”

“And every time he tries...” she began, knowing exactly what his answer would be.

“I grab hold of you. To try and get expelled, with you,” he said, gesturing to the blackness above them. “But as much as my father wants you to leave, he wants to keep torturing me here even more.”

It was all making sense now. Clarke’s panic when the light had tried to take her, his insistence that it would destroy her. The bastard had been _keeping_ her here, knowing very well that it meant she’d be trapped in the blackness. That she’d never see her family again, her friends. Josie.

She could choose to be angry, to hurt him for it, but she figured the few next minutes would be punishment enough. 

“Then it’s official,” she told him. “All we have to do is wait.”

“For what?” He asked, and Hope had to admit she was enjoying how scared he sounded. 

As if it had been waiting for him to ask, the light appeared, washing over them in a blinding wave of white. The wind was howling now, tugging at her, but Hope wasn’t afraid. 

She was going home.

She grinned, raising her eyebrows at Clarke. “That’s my ride,” she said, unable to keep the joy from her voice.

“Hope,” he pleaded, squinting against the light. “You can’t leave me here.” 

“I can’t leave with you,” she reminded him, even though she knew he hadn’t forgotten that little detail. “Okay? I have to get back to my friends, I have to get back to Josie!”

She hadn’t allowed herself to imagine it until now. Home. Josie. All of it.

Clarke wasn’t giving up, though. She supposed that if she was in his position, she wouldn’t either. “I can’t lie, right? So you know I am telling the truth when I say that if you help me go back too, you’ll never see me again. I promise!”

He was begging now, pleading with her, desperate for her not to abandon him. He’d be alone, she knew, left to wander in the blackness for however long his father chose to torture him for. Possibly forever. 

Maybe if Hope was a better person, she’d allow it to sway her. But there was no way of knowing what would happen if she allowed Clarke to escape with her, and she wouldn’t allow it to jeopardize her one chance of leaving this place.

“I’m sorry,” she told him, and she genuinely meant it. “But do you understand why I can’t take that risk?”

“Yeah, I would do the same thing if I were you!” As soon as he’d said it, Clarke shook his head, growling slightly at his forced confession. 

On second thought, Hope didn’t feel guilty for leaving him. Not one bit. 

“Good luck, Clarke,” she said, the words accompanied by a soft laugh of mirth. He’d dug this grave himself, and she wasn’t about to pull him out of it.

“Screw you, Hope,” he screamed, but the words were drowned out by the howling wind.

Then, Hope was pulled up by that invisible tether and into the light. 

° ° ° 

“Think of my blood like the red line crossing the map in Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Josie said as she pressed the needle into her skin. “It’ll flow wherever it senses Raf, and it’ll show us the path.”

Landon and her were sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace, a map of the school grounds between them, surrounded by flickering candles and a few of Josie’s grimoires. 

The needle pierced her fingertip and Josie lifted her hand, allowing her blood to drip onto the map to start the spell, and that’s when it happened.

Josie’s vision shuttered, her surroundings flickering in and out of existence. The hardwood floor beneath her was replaced by carpet, _her_ carpet she realized, as the fireplace shifted into the one in her... bedroom? She felt heat at her fingertips, saw herself blow out a match. Blood was falling onto the paper in front of her, pages torn from a grimoire. It felt like she was watching a scene in a movie... or that she was part of one. 

Then Josie heard a voice, _her_ voice, in her head.

_Are you sure about this?_

_Absolutely,_ answered another voice, warm and feminine. It reminded her of the flames crackling in the hearth, steady with the promise of danger licking at the edges. 

There were two hands in hers, the heat that came from siphoning, and then the spell was on her lips. 

_Inveniet hostium et tenebrae._

It was intoxicating, the magic. She’d never felt this with siphoning before, had never felt so... _right._

There was a flash of light, a flicker of heat, and then...

“Josie? You okay?”

Landon. Landon was asking her a question, Landon was sitting across from her, and she was by the fireplace in the foyer because... because where else would she be?

“Jo? You kind of zoned out there for a second, is everything okay? Do you need to stop?”

“What?” The word stuck in her throat, and she couldn’t blame Landon for looking concerned. 

“Do you need to stop? With the spell, I mean.”

“Oh,” she said, her mouth finally seeming to catch up with her brain. “Oh, no I don’t need to stop. Everything’s fine.”

Fine. Right. And the... spell. Which she still had to do, apparently. Even if she’d thought... nevermind. 

It was silent for a moment as she worked, as she tried to forget what had just happened, what she’d felt. Not that she even knew what that was. 

“Thank you for this,” Landon whispered, a soft smile on his lips as he leaned forward to catch her attention. 

“Of course,” she said, smiling back at him, mentally shaking the tendrils of hazy fog from her mind. “It’s honestly child’s play, it’s how I used to cheat at hide and go seek.”

Landon smiled at that, and she was pleased to find it untainted by fear or anxiety for the first time all night. _She’d_ done that. Helped him.

“Just give it a second,” she told him, pressing a cloth to her bleeding finger. 

There was a beat of silence, and then... “I want you to know I wasn’t trying to hurt myself.”

It took her a second to realize what he was talking about. 

They’d never discussed it. Not since that night on the docks. Josie had assumed Landon would start the conversation if he ever wanted to, and she hadn’t wanted to push, to ruin anything. 

“On the fourth,” he said, as if either of them needed reminding. It was when it had all started. This, them. Whatever this was. 

“I wasn’t trying to like...” he trailed off, searching for the right words. “Self-destruct, or anything.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” she told him, unable to stop herself. 

“Maybe it started like that,” he confessed. “But when I go under I see... images. Faces. Memories, maybe. There’s something buried in my brain, and when I die I get a glimpse of it but...”

He looked at her then, as if he was unsure if he should continue or not, but Josie nodded at him. 

“My entire life it’s felt like something was missing. Going from foster home to foster home I— Rafael and I, we never felt like we belonged anywhere. And now I’m here, and it’s great but... it still feels like I’m missing a part of myself. And as messed up as it sounds, dying is when I feel the most... whole? Maybe it’s nothing,” he said, sighing as he ran a hand through his hair. “Maybe it’s the answer to everything.”   
  
Images, faces, memories. It _could_ be important. Maybe it was the key to the Malivore mystery, the answer her dad was looking for. 

Josie didn’t care. 

“No answer is more important than making sure that you don’t accidentally overshoot your Phoenix quota,” she told him, putting at much conviction in her voice as she could. 

Landon sighed, but then he nodded. He was listening to her, at least. 

“Are you happy?” He asked her after a moment, and even though he was still smiling she could tell it was a serious question. 

“What do you mean?” She asked, smiling back at him. He wouldn’t meet her gaze though, his eyes trained firmly on the map, almost like he was nervous. But why...

“I mean since we started hanging out, I mean until Raf went missing, I think I was finally starting to get... happy-ish.”

Oh. _Oh._

It was an effort to keep herself from grinning like a crazy person when he said that. It didn’t mean anything, she told herself. Really. It shouldn’t matter.

So why was her heart suddenly racing?

And what was she supposed to say to that? Telling him she was completely happy would be a lie, but...

“I’m definitely happy-ish,” she told him. “I just don’t know if I can be fully happy until I know that Lizzie and I are gonna survive past the merge.”

That was only the beginning of her problems, but Landon didn’t need to know that. 

“Yeah,” Landon said, a sigh already on his lips. Like he’d been expecting her to say that. Maybe he knew her better than she thought. “Look, I don’t wanna cause problems, but I think that your dad is lying to you about the Ascendant.”

Not that her dad keeping secrets was a surprise, but...

“How do you know?”

“I just... know.”

Landon had been right when he’d accused her of lying on the Fourth, and while she couldn’t be sure if he was telling the truth now, either way... she owed her dad a visit.

She was done with secrets.

•••

_“I need you to do something for me.”_

_“What?” Josie asks, her voice barely more than a whisper._

_It’s better this way, she tells herself._ _Even if it’s going to hurt._

_“Call maintenance. Have them pack up my things, my files... and burn them.”_

_“Hope, no—“_

_“Yes,” she says, not letting Josie finish. “It’s better this way, Jo, trust me.”_

_“If you want to erase yourself, that’s on you,” Josie says, and there’s enough pain in her voice that Hope feels like her heart is about to cave in. “But you can’t ask_ _me to do it too.”_

_“I know it’s not fair, Josie. None of it. And I’m sorry, I...”_

_“If you’re sorry then_ don’t do it. _”_

_Hope can no longer pretend there aren’t tears on her cheeks. The shaking has stopped, though. She just feels numb now._

_“I love you, Josie.”_

_“What?”_

_If this were any other situation, Hope would have found the surprise in Josie’s voice comical. As if she hadn’t even expected it. Hope had thought it was obvious._

_“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that sooner, and I know my timings a little off... but_ _I needed you to know that.” She hopes Josie can’t hear how badly her voice is trembling._

 _This wasn’t how she’d wanted this to go._  
 _She hadn’t quite imagined how she’d tell her, hadn’t even planned it, really. She couldn’t even pinpoint the exact moment she’d realized it. Still, she wished she’d said it before now. So they could have had that, at least for a little while._  
  
 _Below, the pit let out a bellowing roar,_ _and Hope looked over the railing to see a face beginning to form in the mud._

_Her time was up._

_“I gotta go,” she says, her eyes not leaving the pit of sludge below her._

_“Hope, listen to me, wait—“ It sounds like Josie might be screaming at her, but Hope blocks that out too._

_“Not an option. Uh, promise me you’re gonna do what I said.”_

_There’s no sound from the other end of the phone. Hope can hear Josie hesitating, weighing her options._

_“Promise me,” she demands, hoping Josie will hear how important this is to her._

_“Alright, fine,” Josie says, sounding utterly defeated. She’s giving up, and Hope can’t even pretend that doesn’t hurt. “I promise.”_

_Before she can change her mind, Hope ends the call. It feels as if she’s cutting a cord, the last connection to her life falling away. She wishes she could convince herself that the tears coating her cheeks are tears of relief._

_It’s like Josie has already forgotten her._

•••

“Dad told me everything.”

Lizzie was sprawled across the couch in the student lounge, her red combat boots resting on the coffee table and a single blonde curl wrapped around her finger, but those four words immediately had all of her attention on Josie. 

“The Ascendant is a lock to a prison world,” Josie explained, struggling to keep her voice steady. “It’s a long story, but we have an uncle that is trapped down there and he’s the only other living member of our lunatic family and he’s _been through the merge,_ so he’s gotta have answers.” 

Lizzie’s on the edge of her seat, the same level of urgency in her gaze as Josie had felt when their dad had first told her. Before he’d explained. “Well then let’s go,” she said, pushing herself off of the couch, sounding more determined than Josie had ever heard her. “The minute I get back.” 

It isn’t until now that she realizes how unfair she’s been, thinking that she was the only one who cared about this. It was her sister’s future too, _their_ future. Which made her even more reluctant to tell Lizzie the rest.

“Lizzie,” she said, bracing herself. “I gave the Ascendant back to Dad.” 

“You _what_? Why?”

“This guy that’s trapped down there killed Jo,” she explained, watching the anger fade from Lizzie’s face. “On her wedding day with Dad. I mean the guy murdered his twin.”

Which was the exact outcome they were both trying to avoid.

“So, Dad said it’s a last resort,” she said, repeating her father’s words to Lizzie. Which she actually agreed with, for once. “And that until then... we should just stay far away from it.”

“So, in the meantime,” she continued, her voice softening as she moved to sit on one of the lounge chairs. “You should enjoy your speed trains and hang out with hot Swedish guys and have your summer fun.”

Lizzie shook her head. “Listen,” she said, sitting down across from Josie. “I’m in therapy three hours a day. When I’m not with a shrink, I’m with a doctor, and when I’m not with a doctor I’m with a healer. I’m doing _everything_ I can to get better. Like, really better. I should have told you that. I don’t know why I didn’t.”

Josie felt the guilt rush in. She’d assumed from all of the talk about cute boys and fun excursions, Lizzie was blowing off therapy as usual. She hadn’t thought that maybe this was her sister’s way of solving the merge problem, of dealing with it. Working to make sure she was in the best mental state as possible, that she could control herself. 

Pride swelled in her chest, and Josie smiled at her sister, soft and steady. Lizzie smiled back.

Then, she reached out and took Josie’s hand. “But promise me you will make the most of the rest of this summer, okay?”

Josie could do that. She wanted to do that, and she realized that this was her sister’s version of giving her blessing, of telling Josie it was okay to forget about the merge and focus on herself for a bit.

“I promise,” she said.

° ° ° 

As the school gates opened, Hope felt the barrier she’d constructed around her heart breaking ever so slightly, her defenses lowering at the familiar sight of the school before her. 

A car pulled through the gates, jerking to a stop when the driver spotted her standing in the road, and she was momentarily blinded by it’s headlights. 

Dorian, she realized, as he opened the car door and asked if she was okay. 

She still didn’t know how much time had passed since she’d jumped into Malivore, but judging by the distant heat of the evening air it had been at least a month. It had to have been a shock for Dorian to see her just standing outside the school, she realized, to have remembered her when the memories had come rushing back. “Yeah, Dorian,” she said. “I’m okay.” 

“Glad to hear it but... how’d you know my name?”

It took a moment for his words to register, but when they did Hope felt her heart fracture just a little bit more. Why had she assumed that just because she’d escaped Malivore everyone would remember her? Landon hadn’t remembered his mother, but she had thought that was because he’d still been a child when she’d abandoned him. Hoped, really. 

Dorian was still waiting for an answer, so she made up a stupid excuse about seeing his name on his parking pass. He laughed and said he’d always hated that photo of himself, and she hoped that her answering smile didn’t look too pained. 

“What brings you out here tonight?”

It was a complicated question, but when she thought about it there was only one real answer.

“A girl,” she said, unable to stop herself from smiling as she thought of Josie. She was _here_ , she realized. Just behind the gates.

“Well, we’re all locked up in there,” Dorian told her, and she noted the suspicion in his gaze. Smart, not to trust her. Especially after the year they’d had. “Everyone’s gone for the summer.”

Not Josie. She was here, Hope could feel it.

“Okay,” she said, the lie slipping out with ease as she turned to leave. “Thanks, sorry to bother you.”

She heard Dorian get in his car, shut the door, drive away. And then, she turned. 

She punched the code into the keypad, and the school gates swung open. 

Maybe Josie didn’t remember her. Maybe no one did. But it didn’t matter. She wasn’t going to lose Josie, not like this. 

She wasn’t giving up on them. Not yet. 

° ° ° 

When Josie arrived at the old mill, Landon had already started the movie. 

“You started without me,” she said in mock accusation, sitting down beside him. When Landon didn’t respond, Josie looked at him. He rubbed at his eyes, avoiding her gaze, and then she noticed the map in his lap. 

“Your map worked,” he said, handing it to her. That was a good thing, wasn’t it? So why...

She looked at the map, at the circle of her blood surrounding the mill. “He’s right here,” she said. “What’s the problem?”

“He was,” said Landon, sounding even more defeated than he had on the Fourth. “But when I came out here to find him, _that_ appeared.”

Josie noticed it then, the line of red leading away from the mill and into the woods. Away from Landon. 

“Raf’s not missing,” Landon sighed, turning his gaze to the makeshift screen, although Josie knew he wasn’t really watching the movie. “He just doesn’t want to be here anymore.”

The pain in his voice was a familiar one. Josie understood what it felt like to be left behind, to feel as if you were never good enough for people to stay for. 

“I knew this going in,” Landon said, wobbling slightly as he got to his feet. She wondered how long he’d been sitting here, waiting for her. “The longer he’s a wolf, the less human he’ll be and at what point does a wolf no longer need a human best friend?”

“Movie nights,” he scoffed, and for a moment Josie thought he might tear down the sheet from the trees, might shatter the projector in anger. But he didn’t, because that wasn’t Landon. 

They both did that, she’d noticed. Internalize their feelings, hide them. Lizzie and Rafael were the opposite, she thinks. They didn’t conceal their anger, and if they did, they tended to explode. 

_Promise me you will make the most of the rest of this summer._

_Are you not having any fun at all?_

_It’s been fun. It’s been like actual fun._

_Are you happy?_

Maybe Josie wasn’t all the way happy, maybe she never would be, but with Landon... it felt like the start of it. 

“Maybe,” she said tentatively, standing and slowly walking across the clearing towards him. “He moved on. Because he saw that you have someone who can help you be... happy-ish.”

She knew she couldn’t replace Rafael, and perhaps it was selfish to assume that she meant something to Landon, to think she might be enough to make him happy, that he could ever see her as more than a friend.

But Landon’s gaze softened, and she saw his gaze drift down to her lips. Then, slowly, as if she was a forest animal he was scared of spooking, he lifted a hand and his fingers brushed her cheek. She stilled as he leaned forward, his lips a breath away from hers.

Then, he was kissing her, and the words _just friends_ flashed through her mind before they were erased by the feeling of his lips against hers. It was nothing more than a brush at first, before he lifted his head and they locked eyes, and then they were kissing again. His arm wrapped around her back, pulling her close to him, and Josie stopped thinking about the Merge, about that distant unhappiness that had lingered in her heart since the summer had started.

Happy-ish was fine, but Josie was ready for something more.

° ° ° 

Hope felt as if she was being guided by an invisible tether, her feet controlled by puppet strings. 

When she had stepped through the school gates, she’d felt them tugging at her, urging her forward. Up the cobblestone drive and past the school building itself, and then into the woods. She hadn’t fought it, had leaned into those instincts instead, somehow knowing exactly where they were taking her. Or, more precisely, to whom. 

Josie.

When she had realized she was in Malivore, she had forced herself to shut out any thoughts of Josie. Of her family, her friends. It had been a form of self-preservation, a way to prevent herself from breaking completely. 

It had been a good plan. Except that now, all of those thoughts and memories and feelings had come rushing back. 

Had Josie felt something when Hope had jumped into the pit? Had she had an inkling that something wasn’t right these past months, a feeling that something, _someone_ , was missing? Had anyone? If Dorian hadn’t remembered her, she doubted Josie would, but there was still a foolish, lovesick part of her that refused to accept that. Josie would remember. Hope, them... all of it. She had to.

Through the trees, Hope could see the twinkling lights of the old mill in the distance, could hear what sounded like fake horror movie screams. 

Josie was close. She still wasn’t sure how she knew that, but she did. It was as if all of her senses had narrowed in on it, on her. Maybe it was a wolf thing. 

Hope stopped moving then, the puppet strings tied to her heart tightening to the point of pain, protesting. 

This was it. She would tell Josie everything, and even if she didn’t believe her, if she never remembered Hope, if she didn’t _want_ to... at least she would have tried, would have fought for her. It’s what Josie deserves, what they _both_ deserve. 

The trees parted to reveal the clearing, the mill decorated in a dizzying array of golden, twinkling lights. It looked beautiful, like a scene from a movie.

It looked like home. 

The clearing itself had been transformed into a homemade movie theater. A sheet had been strung up between two trees as a makeshift screen, a projector playing some old movie. And in front of the screen...

The puppet strings snapped, and her heart dropped to the forest floor along with them.

Because Josie was standing in the clearing, safe and alive and _here_... and kissing Landon Kirby.

They were entangled, locked together, as if you would have to pry them apart if you wanted to separate them. She didn’t think it was possible for them to get any closer to each other, but then Landon’s arm curled around Josie’s back, pulling her towards him. Josie’s hand was on his arm, inching higher and higher with every press of his lips against hers, her fingers stroking the sleeve of his flannel shirt. His hands were cupping her face, then wrapping around her waist, caressing her and holding her and—

And Hope felt like she was about to be sick. She swayed where she stood, her eyes burning with unshed tears, a sob catching in her throat. It felt like her feet had been frozen to the forest floor. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t look away. Gods, she just wanted to look away, to pretend this had never happened and wipe it from her memories. 

It was ironic, wasn’t it, that she was the one wishing to forget. 

There was a flash of heat, of the warmth and comfort she’d once felt when she had been the one holding Josie, kissing her. 

And then it was gone. 

•••

_After that, everything is a series of steps._

_She wipes the phone’s call history with a few clicks, sets it on the ground at Landon’s feet, braces herself against the railing and prepares to jump._

_Then Clarke is rising to his feet, and she feels that familiar persona fall into place. The one she had learned from her father, the one that allowed you to hide pain and hurt behind cruelty and indifference._

_She can’t deny it, it feels good. She’s been hiding that side of herself for so long, and now that she doesn’t have to anymore... it feels as if she’s falling through thin air, without anyone to catch her before she hits rock bottom._

_Her hands are on Clarke’s neck, his skin cold and clammy. Like mud, she thinks._

_Then her foot is on the railing._

_Hope remembers the hole that bullet had_ _made in Josie’s chest, the veins that had crept across her skin right above her heart, and it strengthens her resolve._

_“Too bad you’re so clumsy.”_

_She remembers falling through the air, and then there’s nothing._

•••

Hope had taken this walk before. 

At the beginning of the school year, when Malivore was nothing but a distant, unnamed threat, and her biggest problem had been keeping Jed from murdering Landon. 

She’d been with him, that last time. 

The honor council had voted, and despite Rafael’s efforts to sway them, their verdict had been clear. Landon had to go. 

At one point, there had been something between them, before her dad died and she had been consumed by grief and loneliness. They’d danced once, and he had made her feel all of things she knew she was supposed to feel. Butterflies, giddy smiles, bad jokes she’d laughed at because he was the one making them. He was cute, in that dorky high school boy kind of way. 

And then he’d been at the church, and suddenly he was more than just the waiter who had served her milkshakes at the Mystic Grill. She’d liked him, she’d liked the normal of it all. Maybe more than she had _actually_ liked him, if she was being honest with herself. And yes, they’d kissed, but...

He wasn’t what she wanted, _who_ she wanted. Not anymore. 

But she was a nice person, despite what most people might think. 

So she’d walked him to the bus stop, let him down easy and sent him to New Orleans with a lineage spell and a ham sandwich. 

He’d smiled at her when she’d told him, as if he’d known it was coming, and if the name Josie Saltzman had come up in their conversation, Hope would have laughed, pretended it was nothing. 

It hadn’t been nothing.

She’d taken this walk before. It was a little different now.

This time, she was alone. 

Her cargo was relatively the same— a bus ticket to New Orleans, but this time it was for her, not Landon. A bag she’d taken from Alaric’s office, the one she’d stashed behind his desk for emergency’s. And, finally...

“Hey.”

Hope’s doesn’t open her eyes right away. Instead, she keeps them closed and allows herself to enjoy the sound of Josie’s voice, soft and warm and steady. The voice that had whispered in her ear during school assemblies, had mumbled sweet nothings against her skin between kisses. 

“Is this seat taken?”

Hope opened her eyes then, and turned to look at the not-so-empty space beside her on the bench. 

“Josie,” she said, her voice flooded with a sudden warmth. She couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face, the giddy, shaky feeling vibrating through her bones. Butterflies. Right. 

Josie was still wearing that sundress, a vibrant shade of yellow that reminded her of sunshine and Mardi Gras. Her hair was down, the soft brown ringlets framing her face, her eyes. It’s the latter that Hope finds herself staring at. 

It’s not their color, brown so dark it’s black, that Hope loves. It’s the steadiness they hold, the reminder of home. 

Home. She’s home, and yet she feels more alone than she ever did when she was trapped in Malivore. Untethered, as if everything keeping her here had come undone the moment she’d seen Josie kissing Landon. 

“Wait,” said Josie, her brow crinkling softly in confusion. “How do you know my name?”

That warm, giddy sensation vanished, any butterflies going still and quiet at the reminder that Josie didn’t remember her. That she didn’t even know she _existed_. She opened her mouth to explain, but then—

Josie laughed under her breath. “Sorry, that was a bad joke,” she said, though she was still smiling. “It just looked liked you could use some cheering up.” 

Josie’s gaze softened then, the levity leaving her voice. “There is nothing, not even Malivore, that could make me forget you, Hope Mikaelson.” 

“You’re just saying that because you know I wanna hear it,” Hope said, although there was no part of her that wanted Josie to take the words back. 

Josie hummed softly, the sound neither an agreement or a denial. “Actually, I think I’m here to tell you what you _don’t_ want to hear.”

“Yeah,” Hope said, staring at the prism in her hands that was emitting beams of soft, grainy light against her skin. It had been on Alaric’s desk. She hadn’t been able to resist. 

“I really needed to see you,” she admitted, unable to meet Josie’s gaze. _It’s a hologram,_ she chastised herself. _What are you so afraid of?_

“You always want to see me,” Prism Josie said with a soft, mischievous smile that reminded her so much of real Josie that it physically hurt to look at. “But, I’m glad to be of service. As happy as a prismatic hologram of your subconscious can be, that is. So, what’s on your mind?”

She smiled then, and Hope smiled back. It felt nice. It felt normal. It felt like _them_.

“I missed your eyes,” she said, the confession slipping past her lips almost without her permission. 

“Of course you did. They remind you of home, right? You told me that once.”

She _had_ told Josie that once, the night they’d finally admitted how they felt about each other. It had been after they’d returned from hunting the mummy. Lizzie has banished herself to Hope’s room for the evening, and they’d been lying on Josie’s bed, still in their pajamas, lazily making out, when Hope had confessed how much she loved Josie’s eyes. Among other things. 

“Good memory,” she said, ignoring how tight her voice sounded. “I suppose that comes from the whole being a projection of my subconscious thing?”

“You seem sad, I was trying to brighten the mood,” Josie said, but the teasing note to her voice vanished as she continued. “Besides, you don’t need me. Not really. You know exactly what the real Josie would say about your current dilemma.” 

The truth was, Hope _did_ know what the real Josie would say. Well, kind of. 

She knew what the _old_ Josie would say. That Josie had despised secrets, had hated being left behind. She’d want Hope to tell her the truth, no matter what it cost her. That was the Josie who had loved Hope... or at least Hope had thought she did. 

But this new Josie, the one who had kissed Landon Kirby, who had forgotten Hope ever existed... well, maybe Hope didn’t know her as well as she thought she had. Either way, how could she possibly know what Josie wanted now? 

“Maybe I just want to hear it from fake you,” she said, staring at the ground at her feet, the request more of a stalling tactic than anything.

“Fine,” said Prism Josie, as if she had been waiting for Hope to ask. “There is no world where I would ever want you to leave town without telling me you came back from the dead.” 

“I never died, technically,” Hope countered, unable to stop herself from voicing the technicality. As if it mattered. 

Prism Josie didn’t miss a beat. She’d always been good at seeing through Hope’s bullshit. “I would want to hear about that, too,” she said, and Hope felt the shattered pieces of her heart mend back together ever so slightly. “I would want to hear about everything, because _I love you._ And you love me.”

There it was.

The words Hope had been waiting for, the one’s she’d clung to in the depths of Malivore even though she had never heard Josie say them, had never given her a chance to. She had assumed Josie felt the same as she did, but...

“You leaving town is a stupid move and you know it,” urged Prism Josie. “Especially after we agreed not to lie to each other anymore. After the pageant, remember?”

 _Oh,_ Hope wanted to say, _I remember everything._

She remembered their fight after the Miss Mystic Falls pageant, sparked by Lizzie’s insistence that Landon escort Hope, the betrayal she’d felt when Josie had arrived at rehearsal with Penelope as her own escort. She remembered the tears coating Josie’s cheeks, the panic she’d felt when she’d walked away from her.

Josie leaving her then had been painful, but this... this was worst. And it was all her fault. 

_No,_ said the voice in her head, perhaps the last shred of respect she had for herself. _This wasn’t her fault._

“Don’t turn this around on me,” she snapped, petty jealously burning like acid in her throat. “What’s happening between you and Landon?”

Josie just stared at her, waiting, and Hope groaned, the tension leaving her body as she sagged back against the wall of the bus stop.

“So, you’re mad at me?” Josie asked, although they both already knew the answer to that question. 

She wasn’t mad at Josie. She knew that. Hell, even Josie’s prismatic hologram had known that. She was mad at herself. For sacrificing everything for nothing. For failing to kill Malivore. But mostly for allowing herself to believe that for once things might actually work out the way they were supposed to. For allowing herself to believe that she might finally be happy. 

“No,” she said, her voice quiet enough that if the real Josie was sitting here, she wouldn’t have heard it. “I’m not mad at you. I can’t be mad at you, right? It’s not your fault. You don’t even know I exist.”

God, this was such a mess. If only she could go back in time and stop herself from jumping into that pit, tell her past self it wasn’t worth it. That _this_ wasn’t worth it, even if Malivore returned and killed them all. 

But she couldn’t. There was no reset button on her bad decisions, no second chances.

This was real, this was happening.

Josie didn’t remember her. All of her memories of Hope, of them... gone. As if they’d never existed. As if _she’d_ never existed. 

“That still hurts,” said Josie, as if Hope needed that explained to her. 

“Of course it does,” sighed Hope, that pain evident in her voice. 

“Okay,” Josie said, as if she’d been waiting for Hope to admit it. “So, think about how much it would hurt me to find out you’re just down the road.”

Well, her subconscious was a conniving bitch. 

“Fair enough,” Hope agreed, giving Prism Josie a look that said while she appreciated her ability to craft an argument, she _didn’t_ appreciate being tricked by her own subconscious. 

She allowed herself to study Josie for a moment. Her soft smile, the bare place at her throat where the necklace Hope had given her for her birthday used to be. 

God, she missed her. She missed this, them, all of it. Talking with Josie, touching her. She even missed fighting with her. She didn’t care if Josie was angry with her for leaving, she would give anything just to have her acknowledge her existence. They’d barely had a moment to themselves before Landon had gone missing and Triad had invaded. If Hope had known how little time they would have together, if she’d known how this was all going to end... would she had even started anything with Josie to begin with?

She could still go back, she reasoned. She could go back to school, back to Josie. It should be an easy decision. 

And yet... 

“If you can answer this one question correctly,” she told Josie, even though she had already guessed at what her answer would be. “Then I promise I’ll go running back to you. And I’ll tell you the whole truth.”

Josie scoffed, as if Hope was being ridiculous. “Would you quit playing games, Hope? There is no answer either of us could give that should stop you from doing that right now—“

“Are you happy?” 

And there it was. The question she’d been dreading having to ask, the thought Hope hadn’t been able to ignore. She would go back to Josie in a heartbeat if it was truly what was best for her, but....

_The people I care about have a tendency to die on me._

Would Josie have been safe with her? Hope would always be the daughter of Klaus Mikaelson, the original vampire with a thousand enemies. With her power as a Tribrid, she had thought she could protect the people that she cared about, but the events of last year had proven that she couldn’t. Josie had been shot because of _her_ , because Hope had been too reckless and irresponsible to listen to Alaric when he’d warned her not to attack Triad. Josie had paid the price for that mistake. If her blood hadn’t healed her... she didn’t even want to think about that. 

She knew Josie cared about her, that she might have even loved her, but it didn’t change the fact that she’d moved on. Hope didn’t blame her, she _didn’t_ , but... Josie had _looked_ happy, kissing Landon. And that was all that mattered, wasn’t it? If Josie was happy, truly happy, Hope couldn’t take that away from her. 

Josie still hadn’t answered, so Hope pushed, needing her to confirm the thoughts already running through her head. “Is everyone happier now?”

Josie’s silence was answer enough. 

Maybe they were all better off without her. _Happier._

It was difficult to hold the tears back now, and she felt a sob catch in her throat. She didn’t want Josie to see her cry, didn’t know if she would be able to stop herself from breaking completely if Josie was watching. 

“Could you leave me, for a minute?” She asked, unable to hide the tremor in her voice. “I don’t really wanna cry in front of you, even if you’re a fake.”

It was quiet after that. Hope turned her head, hoping despite herself that her subconscious had ignored her request.

But Josie was gone.

And Hope was alone. 

•••

_Hope was about to launch herself into a pit, and yet Josie feels as if she’s the one who’s falling._

_When she had looked at herself in the mirror a moment ago, she had still been able to see the tear tracks on her cheeks. If Kaleb was more perceptive, perhaps he would have noticed._

_She should tell him, she should tell_ someone _. She had already called maintenance, told them to pack up Hope’s things, along with her journal, but it wasn’t too late. She could still stop this._

Promise me.

I love you, Josie. 

_She couldn’t seem to reconcile those two statements in her head. If this was what Hope wanted, how could she deny her that?_

_And yet..._

_She didn’t say it back._

_She_ wants _to say it back._

_She doesn’t want to forget._

_Josie opened her mouth to say something, anything—_

_There was a lick of heat against her s_ _kin,_ _and then the match slipped from her fingers. There was a moment where she felt as if she was reaching for something, almost like a memory, but then it was gone._

_“You okay?” Kaleb asked, pulling her from whatever haze had come over her._

_“Yeah,” she said, even though she still felt as if she’d forgotten something. It seemed... important. Like it mattered. “Yeah, I don’t know what came over me.”_

_Kaleb shook his head, and for a moment he looked just as confused as she_ _felt. “Yeah, um...” he said, looking at the bag of voting tiles in his hands. “Why do we have five voting tiles?”_

 _Why_ did _they have five voting tiles? Kaleb counted them off. Him, her, Emma, and Raf._

_Who else, then?_

_“Beats me.”_

_Josie relit the match._

•••

In the distance, the bus appeared over the crest of the hill, the grainy beams of it’s headlights reaching the grass at Hope’s feet.

Hope took a deep breath, wiped the tears from her eyes, and returned the prism to her bag. 

For a moment, she considered leaving it there on the bench, but she couldn’t bring herself to. She had never been good at letting go, at least not naturally, but life had forced her to learn how. 

You remembered the good times, and you got through it. 

The memory came to her without her willing it, a flash of summer heat and the smell of freshly cut grass. Josie and her were in the town square, Josie sprawled on the ground beneath her, laughing after she’d pulled the metal rod from Hope’s foot.

_You poked yourself._

Hope stepped into the road, turning her ticket over in her hands. 

There was another flash of heat, this time for an entirely different reason as she remembered their first kiss. The night of Josie’s birthday, after Hope had saved her from being buried alive in the cemetery, Josie’s lips against hers, warm and steady and insistent. The smudges of dirt still on her brow, the silver chain of the necklace Hope had given her glinting in the lamplight, the words _make quiet things heard_ lingering between them as their lips interlocked. 

In the back of her mind, Hope noted that the bus wasn’t slowing down. Maybe it hadn’t seen her yet. 

The next memory that found her was her and Josie in the school kitchens, the day of the talent show when the slugs had invaded their brains, pressed against each other and covered in flour, lips brushing and her hands tangled in Josie’s hair, a breath of laughter against her skin—

There was a horrid screeching sound, and Hope looked up to see the bus careening towards her. It had been flipped on it’s side somehow, sparks flying where metal met pavement.   
  
Hope felt her grip on the bag she’d been holding falter, and it fell to the pavement at her feet as the bus skidded towards her, faster and faster, and then... stopped. 

Smoke was drifting up from the wreckage, curling into the cool summer air, and for a moment Hope didn’t see it.

 _It_ being the creature lumbering towards her through the smoke. It was at least ten feet tall, a mass of wrinkled green skin and hard muscle, with pointed teeth and a layer of snarled hair covering it’s face. 

And it was looking right at her.

It let loose a horrid, bellowing roar, and Hope braced herself.

The monsters were back. 


	2. i’m tired of running (baby, please take me home)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Josie smiled at her then, laughing under her breath, the sound more nerves than anything, and Hope felt her heart melt into something molten as she sat down beside her on the park bench.
> 
> She suddenly wanted to do something stupid, like tell Josie everything. Or kiss her.
> 
> _Kiss her, definitely kiss her,_ said the voice in her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello!! first, i want to thank all of you for the love you showed the first chapter of this fic! i also want to apologize for how long it took me to get this chapter up. my personal life kind of imploded these past couple of weeks, but i have a break from school in a few weeks so hopefully the next update will be up sooner. anyway, i hope y’all enjoy this chapter!! i’m really proud of how it turned out, and it includes the first official hosie interaction so that’s exciting. after this chapter, i will start to diverge from canon more, so they’ll be constant hosie interaction from here on out! please leave a comment/kudos if you enjoyed!!

If someone had told Hope that she’d be wandering the halls of Mystic Falls High School a week after escaping from Malivore, she wouldn’t have believed them. 

Or maybe she would have, considering how terrible her luck was. 

Either way, here she was. 

She had been hunting the creature from the bus stop for over a week now, and so far she’d had no more success at killing it than she had on her first attempt. Whenever she managed to find the damn thing, she’d wound it, but then it would escape into the woods and she’d be right back where she’d started. It was green, ugly, smelled _awful,_ and was apparently strong enough to flip over a bus. She was no Dorian, but all of that had her going with a troll as the current monster-of-the-week intent on torturing her. 

From what she remembered from all of their monster research, trolls were nocturnal, which explained why she’d only been able to find it at night. Also, according to legend, the way to kill a troll was to pierce it through the heart. All she had to do was get a good shot in, and then this whole mess would be behind her and she could leave Mystic Falls. For good, this time. 

She had managed to wound the troll, and discovered that its blood was a vibrant shade of purple. Disturbing, but also convenient for tracking. So, she’d followed the trail here. 

Mystic Falls High School.

There was certainly some irony to this situation, if she cared to examine it. She didn’t. 

Purple blood by the trophy case, trailing down the hallway, and... there. 

A puddle of it, seeping out from underneath the door to the janitor’s closet. 

_Found you._

She braced herself, looked up and down the hallway to make sure no one was watching, and then...

_Dissera Portus._

The door swung open to reveal... nothing. Just brooms and a mop and some rags. 

“Aren’t you a little short for a janitor?”

Hope flinched, a sharp jolt of panic going through her before she realized that she was standing in a mortal high school in broad daylight, poking around in the janitor’s closet, which was bound to raise some questions. 

The boy who had spoken was standing behind her. He was a student, obviously. Tall, wavy brown hair, athletic. Cute. Objectively speaking, of course. 

“Nice to know I’m not the only one trying to hide out on the first day of school,” he said with a teasing smile, and Hope realized he was trying to be nice to her. Probably because she looked like a sad loner trying to hide out in the janitor’s closet, but the sentiment was nice all the same. 

“Oh, no, I wasn’t hiding,” she told him, though she sounded less sure of herself than she would have hoped. “I was, um... I was looking for the principal’s office.”

_God, Hope, pull it together._

“Well, you’re in luck,” he said. “I’m new too, but I’m pretty sure that’s him right behind you.”

_Oh, crap._

“Hi,” said a welcoming, male voice from behind her. A _familiar_ voice. 

Hope turned, and came face to face with one of the last people she wanted to see right now, and certainly the last person she’d ever expect to find _here_. 

“I’m Principal Saltzman. Who are you?”

 _Oh, crap,_ was right. 

° ° °

“What are you doing?”

If you had asked Josie who was most likely to take up yoga as a pastime, the last person she would have said was her sister, and yet when she returned from her shower, that was exactly what she found Lizzie doing. 

“Warrior two,” said Lizzie, as if that explained it.

“I thought you said yoga was karate for lazy people.”

“I did.” 

Well, that made as much sense as it usually did.

“Spending the summer with Mom opened my eyes to all kinds of new experiences,” she said, stretching her arms behind her head as Josie stored her shower caddy in the trunk by her bed. “Since using that Ascendant thingy is off the table, we agreed to stop worrying about all that future Merge crap, right?”

“Right,” Josie said, nodding despite the pit in her stomach.

They had agreed. Well, Lizzie had, and Josie hadn’t _disagreed_. Apparently, it was a lot harder to resist her codependent tendencies when her sister was in the same country as her. Go figure. 

“So,” Lizzie said, releasing whatever pose she’d been holding to get a drink of water. “I’m all about the present. I have decided to be permanently open to any opportunity that comes my way. This is my semester of yes, and I am available for literally _anything_.” 

Well, this wasn’t going to end well.

° ° °

“You are a blank slate, Miss Hope... Marshall?”

Being interrogated by Alaric Saltzman was the last thing Hope needed or wanted at the moment, and yet here she was.

God, the universe really couldn’t give her a break, could it?

Alaric was reading the form Hope had hastily filled out, obviously suspicious about the lack of information regarding her previous schooling, and honestly if she was in any other situation him referring to her parents as Tom and Cathleen would be amusing. 

“No transcript from your last school,” he pointed out, lifting his gaze from the paper to give her quick once over. 

“I think they must have just gotten packed away or something.” Or burned by the daughter of the man sitting in front of her per her request. “Like I said, we move around a lot.” 

“Well,” he said, giving her a look that said he wasn’t buying a word of what she was saying. “If you are gonna be here in Mystic Falls, you’re gonna have to go to school.”

“Well, then I guess it’s a good thing I’m here, right?” Hope said, hoping it sounded like something a snarky, ungrateful teenager would say in this situation. “Can I go now?”

The universe, apparently, decided to give her a break as the school bell rang. Alaric didn’t protest, so Hope took that as her cue to make her escape. Every second she was here felt dangerous, as if she was teetering on the edge. 

Alaric cleared his throat, and she turned to face him. This couldn’t be good. “You know, I’ve got two daughters. I know when they’re not telling me something. So, if there’s anything going wrong at home, you know if you’re in any trouble and you need to talk... just know I’m here to help, okay?”

Seriously? The pseudo-father speech? She didn’t _need_ anyone, least of all him. She never had. Allowing herself to believe otherwise had just made this whole situation worse. 

“I’m fine,” she said, ignoring the tremor in her voice. That definitely wasn’t because his comment had made her think of Josie. Nope, not at all. 

And with that, Hope turned her back on him and walked out the door.

° ° °

Hope was fine. She was.

It was just hard to breathe. 

She managed to keep herself from having a full-on panic attack until she escaped to the bathroom, forcing herself to breathe as she braced her hands against the counter and stared at her reflection in the mirror. 

She had to admit, she’d seen better days. 

The months in Malivore and the past week spent hunting the troll had left her exhausted... and in desperate need of a shower. Her greasy hair and dirt-stained clothes made it look as if she’d gotten in a fight with a mud-pit and lost. Badly. Which, all things considered, wasn’t entirely inaccurate. 

And, she still couldn’t fucking _breathe_. God, what was wrong with her? If this was how her body was going to react to every reminder of her past, she wouldn’t make it out of this bathroom without blowing her cover. Not to mention that her current attire wasn’t exactly the kind of thing you wore to blend in. 

“Boy problems?”

The stall door opening hadn’t even registered to her, but it obviously had since there was a girl standing behind her. She was pretty, with tan skin and long eyelashes and sleek, wavy black hair that had definitely been washed more recently than Hope’s had. 

“Uh, yeah,” Hope said, even though it was technically a lie. “He’s kind of a troll.”

“Oh my god, say no more,” the girl said with an exasperated roll of her eyes. “We’ll fix you up and make him jealous.”

Hope stared at her, surprised by how nice she was being. Weren’t high school girls supposed to be mean, self-centered bitches or something? 

The girl seemed eager to help though, rummaging through her backpack as she talked. “I have an extra shirt in my locker, and I’ve got hairspray, lipgloss, and... new eyeliner.”

A change of clothes did sound nice... and if Hope was going to hunt for monsters in a mortal high school, she’d need to blend in. 

“Maya,” the girl said when she’s finished, giving Hope an appreciative once over. 

“Hope,” she said in return, and Maya offered her a warm smile. Hope decided that she liked her. “Thank you.”

“Weird question,” she continued, fully aware of how this was going to sound. “By any chance have you noticed a terrible smell coming from somewhere inside the school?”

To her surprise, Maya didn’t seem to think that was a strange question at all. “I think everyone has.”

° ° °

The combined smell of teenage boy and monster was... interesting, to say the least.

Maya had told her there was a strange odor coming from the locker rooms, something more than just B.O., so Hope had decided to check it out. 

Maya had also given Hope her jean jacket, along with a magenta tie-dye shirt from her locker, and managed to make her look something like a human being with a wicked combination of hair spray, lip gloss, and eyeliner, so Hope had decided to trust her. 

Sure enough, the floor of the locker room was splattered with purple blood, and the stench filling the space was one hundred percent troll. 

Now, all she had to do was...

A hand clapped onto her shoulder before she could finish that thought, and Hope whirled to face her attacker, slapping their hand away from her as she rolled into a drop kick that had their legs out from under them in a matter of seconds. 

She pinned them to the floor with one hand, raising her other arm to deliver a second blow, only to find Alaric Saltzman staring up at her in pain and confusion.

“Okay, seriously, who are you?”

Well, so much for blending in. 

° ° °

Hope helped Alaric to his feet, unable to hide the prick of satisfaction she felt at his wince of pain. At least she could still kick _his_ ass. She needed a win. 

She also needed a good excuse for why she was in the boys locker room, and she didn’t think her normal-teenage-girl cover was going to fly after she’d judo-flipped him. 

“I’m a vampire hunter,” she said, putting as much confidence into her voice as she could. “And I came across a... a creature.” 

“What _kind_ of creature?” Oh, he wasn’t buying this for a second. 

“A creature that’s big enough to flip over an empty bus,” she told him, debating how much information she could share to make herself sound convincing without dragging him into this mess. “It’s green, it’s ugly, and it smells absolutely terrible, so I’m going with a troll? And it’s hiding somewhere inside the school.”

“And how do you know that?” Alaric asked, although he _had_ stopped looking at her as if she had three heads. That was progress, right? 

“Because I wounded it,” she explained, pointing to the droplets of purple blood on the ground. “It’s nocturnal, so it hides out during the day. I found a legend that says I just have to pierce it through the heart.” 

“Listen, you’re not doing anything, okay? You’re just a kid. If there’s a monster in my school, I’m gonna take care of it.”

Hope gritted her teeth at his condescending tone. She hadn’t been _just a kid_ for a long time. And since when was this _his_ school? 

“No offense,” she said, in a tone that clearly meant _offense_. “But, um, I’ve been trying to kill this thing for over a week and nothing’s worked.”

“If you are a vampire hunter,” he said. “Then I’m sure you’ve heard of Alaric Saltzman. I know what I’m doing.”’

_Oh, please._

“Yeah, you’re _very_ famous around here,” she said, unable to keep the snark from her voice. “But you’re gonna need my help.”

Alaric took a step towards her, his gaze hardening. “I’ve put kids in danger before. And I’m not going to make that mistake again.”

Ugh. While she could appreciate that the past year had taught him to be more responsible, it was really interfering with her plans to kill this monster and skip town as soon as possible. Before she could argue her case, though, the locker room was flooded with an onslaught of teenage boys. 

“Yes, of course, we’d love to have you try out for the team,” Alaric said, loud enough that the entire locker room could hear, and Hope couldn’t resist the urge to roll her eyes. “All are welcome. But in the meantime, just go to class and _stay there_.” 

Those last two words were more of a snarl than anything, along with a glare meant just for her, but she followed him out of the room anyway. The troll wasn’t here, and the last thing she wanted to do was engage in a conversation with mortal high school boys.

“You going out for kicker, or are you just stalking me?”

Apparently, she’d spoken too soon.

It was the boy from the hallway, the one who’d teased her about being too short to be a janitor. The one she’d thought was _nice._

“Stalking you?” She repeated with a laugh. “I think it’s pretty clear who’s stalking who here.”

She hadn’t meant to take the bait at all, and she could leave it at that but...

“And if I went out it’d be for QB-1.”

The hollering of his teammates followed her out, and Hope had to admit... it felt good.

° ° °

Josie had never started the school year with a boyfriend before, so she’d wanted to be prepared. 

She had assumed Landon would be nervous for his first day, especially with all the Malivore gossip going around, but he was actually doing... fine. He hadn’t needed the schedule she’d printed out for him, and so far seemed to be handling his newfound popularity with relative ease. Which was a _good_ thing, of course. 

So why did it make her feel so useless?

It didn’t help that the new headmaster was an uptight, over the top poser with an accent who seemed determined to undo everything her dad had worked for. He was also terrible at teaching, which was the only thing Josie had taken away from his lecture on the importance of the discovery of new creatures to cryptozoology.

“He’s such a pompous ass,” she whispered to Landon, who was sitting beside her.

“At least he hasn’t tried to kill us all,” said Jed under his breath, who she _definitely_ hadn’t been speaking to. 

“My dad wasn’t trying to _kill_ anyone, he was—“

Landon gave her a chastising look and a shake of his head that said _don’t push it_ , and Josie stopped talking as the red faded from her vision. 

“Nevermind,” she muttered, ignoring the hot spike of anger and embarrassment in her chest. Landon was right. Rising to Jed’s bait was stupid, even if it felt like a betrayal not to defend her dad and his actions.

She turned back to her notes, and that’s when it appeared. A drawing of Landon, with curly hair and wings and a crown of fire, golden sparks drifting into the air from the spell that had transferred it to his notebook.

Josie looked around the classroom, and... there.

Hannah Carlton. The witch who’d written the word _hey_ in gold sparks in the air this morning as she’d given Landon that flirty little wave, who’d been staring at him at the assembly. She was doodling in her notebook, and Josie could just make out the edge of a pencil-drawn wing identical to the one on Landon’s paper. She was _flirting_ with him, and right under Josie’s nose. As if she wasn’t even there. 

_Just let it go, Josie,_ said the voice in her head. The logical one. The one she should listen to. If Landon was disappointed in her for responding to Jed’s jab, he would surely hate it if she hexed some witch who was only guilty of _staring_ at him.

_She’s not worth it._

Just when she’d convinced herself of exactly that, the girl turned around and _smirked_ at Josie. 

Oh, that was it.

Josie set her hand on the desk, hoping Landon wouldn’t notice the faint red glow against her skin as she drew the magic from the wood. 

_Invidium_. 

She whispered the spell under her breath, and felt a wicked satisfaction bloom in her chest when Hannah’s nose began to bleed. The blood trickled down slowly, dripping onto the desk. And all over her _adorable_ drawing of Landon. 

Hannah brought a hand to her nose, gasping when it came away covered in blood, shoving her chair back with a screech as she leapt to her feet and ran from the classroom. 

Josie smirked. That had felt _good_. For the first time all day, her head was clear.

It wasn’t until she looked up that she saw that Professor Vardemus was staring at her. 

As if he knew what she’d done. 

° ° °

Josie didn’t wait for Landon after class, eager to escape before Professor Vardemus could confront her about the spell she’d done. 

Instead, she went to the kitchen and decided to make him a cup of coffee, just how he liked it. 

She was standing by the coffee machine when it happened. Her surroundings didn’t vanish like they had with the locator spell, but they took on a faded, echoing quality. There was the breath of a laugh against her cheek, the phantom heat of someone’s body against hers, and Josie’s own voice whispering the words _I like you happy._

“There you are!”

Landon’s greeting returned her to reality, where she was standing in the kitchen by the coffee machine. Alone. 

_Right, Josie, alone. Like you have been this entire time._

She must not be sleeping enough or something. Maybe that explained the weird daydreams. Right? 

“Hey,” she said, ignoring the pit in her stomach as she offered Landon the coffee she’d made him. “I made you a flat-white. Just how you like.”

“Oh,” he stammered. “I already—“

That’s when she noticed the coffee mug in his hands. Because he’d gotten his own coffee. Right. 

“Oh,” she said, scrambling to make it seem like she hadn’t spent the last five minutes waiting at the machine. “That’s okay, that’s okay—“

“But I could still drink that—“

“No, no, you really don’t have to,” she said, pushing right past Landon’s protests. 

“Okay,” he said, sounding relieved. “Um, are you okay? You kind of rocketed out of class earlier.”

Right. That probably would have seemed weird. 

_God, she was such an idiot._

“Um, yeah,” she said, searching for a plausible excuse. “It’s just with my dad not being here and... us. It’s, um... no it’s just a lot of change is all, it just kinda got to me.” 

Okay, now she _sounded_ like a complete idiot. 

“We could totally cancel dinner tonight,” he offered. “If you feel like we’re moving too fast.”

Shit. She was totally freaking him out right now, wasn’t she? “Do you think we’re moving too fast?”

“No, _no_ ,” he said, and Josie tried to ignore the spike of panic she’d felt. “Not unless you do.” 

“No, I don’t think so...” she said, trailing off as she waited for Landon to say something. Anything, really.

“Okay,” he said, even though he didn’t sound entirely sure. “Good. So... dinner still?”

“Yeah, sure,” she said, honestly just eager to get this conversation over with.

“Great. Um, sushi?”

Josie hated sushi, it made her stomach hurt whenever she ate it. But if that was what Landon wanted... 

“Yeah. I love sushi, sushi it is.”

“Awesome,” Landon said, grinning at her before he left the kitchen. 

Josie groaned, falling back against the counter. 

_Sushi_. 

She was so done for. 

° ° °

Hope had never thought she would have to brew artificial sunlight in a locker, but she supposed she would just have to add it to the list of weird situations she’d found herself in since her escape from Malivore. 

The troll was nocturnal, so she’d figured that if it wouldn’t go _to_ the sun, she’d bring a little sunlight to it.

Her plan to do that was going just fine, until she saw Alaric take a crossbow out of a locker. Seriously, who had hired him to work here? He _really_ couldn’t leave well enough alone, could he?

So, obviously, she had to follow him. 

Well, he found the troll. It had left a trail of purple blood to the boiler room, where it was leaning against the wall, nursing it’s wounds. When it saw Alaric, however, it rose to its feet and let loose a bellowing roar. Alaric fired a shot, but the arrow missed its mark, steam filling the air when it hit a pipe behind the monster. 

The troll charged forward, knocking the crossbow from Alaric’s hands and sending him crashing to the ground with a single swipe of its mottled green arm. Before it could strike again, Hope rolled the jar of artificial sunlight across the floor. It stopped at the trolls feet, and the creature paused it’s attack, looking at the unassuming blue liquid with something like curiosity. 

Hope murmured the spell, and then it ignited. 

She covered her eyes as the liquid activated, exploding in a burst of blinding white light. The troll roared, staggering backward with its hands covering its face. 

“Hope!” Alaric yelled, throwing her a bolt from his crossbow. 

Hope caught the arrow in midair with her magic, and then sent it flying into the troll’s chest. The creature screeched in pain, clutching its side, and then crumpled in a unmoving heap on the floor. 

Hope stalked towards it as Alaric got to his feet, and felt a swell of relief when the troll didn’t rise again. The arrow was buried in it’s chest, purple blood pooling around its heart. 

“Yeah,” said Alaric. “I’m gonna go ahead and agree with your troll theory.”

“Yeah, well, it’s nocturnal so I figured I’d just make some artificial sunlight,” Hope explained, too relieved that the monster was finally dead to snap at him for risking his life. 

“You didn’t say you were also a witch.”

Right, she’d figured he might take issue with that. “Look, I’m just here to kill this monster, okay? Then I’ll be on my way, before this gets any more complicated.”

“Um, what is _that_?” 

Oh, you had got to be kidding.

Hope turned, bracing herself to explain this situation to whatever idiotic student had walked in on _this_ lovely scene, only to find... 

Maya. 

Maya was standing by the staircase, looking reasonably horrified by the massive lump of flesh and leather behind them, and certainly wondering why the nice girl she’d met in the bathroom was standing over the body of a dead troll. 

Well. So much for uncomplicated.

° ° °

“The sound was a busted water pipe, and then Dr. Saltzman—“

“Principal Saltzman.”

“My bad. Principal Saltzman turned the water off and took care of everything.”

Standing in Alaric’s office as MG compelled Maya to forget everything she’d seen, Hope couldn’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu. It reminded her a little too much of when he’d tried and failed to compel Landon, back before all of this had started. 

Maya, thankfully, didn’t seem to possess the same aversion to compulsion that Landon had. “Wow,” she said, in the blank, confused tone most humans used after being compelled. “Crazy first day, huh?”

That, at least, they could agree on. 

Alaric told Maya to go back to class, and she left without any further protests.

Well, that was one crisis averted. 

MG, however, took that as his cue to turn to Hope and try to compel _her_. Oh, she didn’t think so. 

“Don’t even think about it,” she snapped, and he wisely stopped moving at the promise of bodily harm in her voice. 

He looked at Alaric, obviously confused, but he shook his head in a way that said _bad idea._ Well, at least he had learned not to underestimate her. 

MG turned back to her, his smile apologetic. “Hey, if he trusts you, so do I. By the way, I don’t usually do this. I’m not trying to take anyone’s agency or anything, you know?”

Hope smiled at him, unable to ignore the phantom sense of normalcy she felt at seeing MG. She’d missed him. She’d missed everyone. 

The words were on the tip of her tongue. It would be easy to tell him the truth, to tell them both. But if she did that, there was no way they’d allow her to leave town, or keep her existence a secret from Josie. And that wasn’t a conversation she was prepared for.

So, Hope was silent as MG crafted an excuse about having a study date to get to, and Alaric thanked him for coming. 

“Anytime,” he said. “You’ll always be my headmaster.”

Now, there was a question she still didn’t have the answer to. Why was Alaric here, at Mystic Falls High, in the first place? She had initially ignored her curiosity, but MG made it sound like he’d definitely been replaced by _someone_. Why, though?

“So,” she said once MG had left, hoping her interest in his current job occupation wouldn’t seem suspicious. “Why aren’t you headmaster of that other school anymore?”

“That’s a long story,” he said, which she took as her cue to stop prying. 

“Oh, okay,” she said. “Well, I’ll be back once school lets out so that we can clean up what is probably a dead troll.”

“You’re really not phased by any of this, are you?”

“I mean, I just think that the story that you told me, about the monsters and the scary black pit just... makes a lot of sense, I guess,” she told him. He’d explained it to her while they’d been waiting for MG. Malivore, the monsters, everything. The irony of it wasn’t lost on her. 

“Um, look, I’m really glad to hear that it stopped,” she said, unable to keep herself from apologizing. “I’m sorry that it’s happening again.”

“It’s not your fault.”

It was _entirely_ her fault. Not that she could tell him that.

“Now that I know your cover story is a lie,” he continued. “I’m assuming Tom and Cathleen aren’t real. This school I used to work at... you’d be welcome there.” 

This. This was what she needed to avoid. “Oh, yeah, that sounds amazing. But I’m just passing through.”

It sounded more than amazing. It sounded like everything she’d wanted since she’d returned from Malivore, an open invitation back into her old life with no questions asked. Except it wouldn’t be her life, not really. And having to pretend as if she was a stranger, to go to class with the people who’d once been her friends, to see Landon and Josie together... she couldn’t do it. It would hurt too damn much. 

Hope moved towards the door, telling herself this was it, that she was done stalling, but then...

“Hey, look, I uh...”

It was far too easy to turn around. 

“I don’t really have access to that school’s resources anymore,” Alaric said, hesitating. “And I’m trying to give my daughters some space. But if these monsters attacks are starting up again, I could use the backup. I don’t really have anyone else.”

Another tempting offer, one that would be entirely too easy to accept. But she couldn’t. She _wouldn’t_. 

“I work better alone,” she told him, and then she turned and walked out the door before he could change her mind. 

Even if she didn’t have anyone else either.

° ° °

“There’s uh, something I wanna ask.”

Despite her rejection of his offer to work with him, Hope did return to the school that evening to help Alaric dispose of the dead troll. She hadn’t, however, signed up for an interrogation, but apparently that was part of the job description. 

“You know when we were fighting, how’d I know to throw that bolt to you? It was like muscle memory,” he said as they entered the boiler room, giving her a look that said he already had an answer to that question, one she wouldn’t like. “We’ve fought together before, haven’t we?”

“What?” Hope prayed that her breathy laugh would disguise the panic in her voice. “That seems totally impossible.”

“Yeah,” Alaric agreed. “Except I live in a world where a creature named Malivore can erase people from memory.” 

_Shit_. Hope faltered, the excuse she’d been crafting vanishing from her mind. 

Alaric took her silence as an admission. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Even if I told you, it wouldn’t change anything,” she told him. “Okay? It wouldn’t bring your memories back, it would just be words. Leaving will be easier if you don’t know.” 

“Well, then don’t leave.”

He made it sound so _easy_ , and she hated him for it. Didn’t he understand that she was the problem? “You told me that the monster attacks had stopped, and then right when I show up things start happening again? I’m pretty sure I’m the reason. So I can’t stay and put all of you in danger!”

Hope shoved past him, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. There was a reason she’d avoided this conversation. 

She just needed to get rid of this monster, and then she could leave this entire mess behind her. At least the troll was...

Gone. The troll was gone, as in _not_ dead, in it’s place a puddle of dried purple blood and the arrow she’d impaled it with. 

“Okay,” Alaric said from behind her. “So... not a troll.”

° ° °

“Okay, so if it’s not a troll, then what else could it be?”

Hope and Alaric had followed the trail of blood to an alleyway behind the Mystic Grill, but there was no sign of the not-troll anywhere. 

“I don’t know,” Alaric said. “But it’s here. Somewhere. Question is, why?”

“Not sure,” Hope admitted. “I mean the pattern is that I wound it, and then it runs and hides from me. So it must be sticking to the shadows, waiting for it to get dark.” 

_Why_ , though? She’d been wondering that herself. There were no more Malivore artifacts for the monsters to retrieve, so what _did_ it want?

“Well, when the monsters came last time, they were always after something. Let’s see if we can figure out what it’s looking for,” Alaric said as he moved past her and up the stairs. 

Hope moved to follow him, and that’s when she saw her. Them. 

Josie and Landon. They were crossing the street, walking side by side, leaving a sushi restaurant tucked into a row of shops.

 _Josie hates sushi,_ was the first thought that entered Hope’s mind. She ignored it. 

Josie was wearing a blouse tucked into a dark orange skirt. It was nice. Fancy. Like _date_ fancy. 

That might have hurt, Hope thought, if she had cared. Which she didn’t.

Like she’d told Alaric, she was better on her own. It had just taken her a little while to realize it. 

° ° °

“Are you sure you don’t want my jacket?”

“I’m not cold.”

It wasn’t a lie. Josie wasn’t cold, she just felt like she was about to be sick to her stomach after eating an entire plate of sushi. 

“Are you mad at me?”

“No,” she bit out, though she knew why he was asking. She’d been on edge all evening. All day, really. Something just felt... off. Landon, being the person he was, had obviously noticed. 

As if on cue, as they entered the park, that phantom warmth that preceded her strange daydreams bloomed in her chest. This time, though, she didn’t give in to it. It faded after a moment, leaving a vacant emptiness in her bones, and when Josie shivered it wasn’t because of the temperature. 

“I don’t really believe that,” Landon scoffed, and Josie tried to be grateful for the pull back to reality. 

“Then tell me what you want me to say,” she snapped, unable to keep the irritation from her voice. 

“I want you to say whether or not you had a good time at dinner because it seemed like you were miserable the whole time! You didn’t want dessert—“

“I just don’t feel good,” she said, cutting him off as she clutched at her stomach. “Can we just talk about it tomorrow?”

“No,” Landon said, and now he sounded angry. Great. “You’ve been weird all day! What changed?”

 _Everything,_ she wanted to scream. _Everything’s changed._

“ _Nothing_ ,” she said instead, surprised to feel the pressure of a sob building in her chest. What was _wrong_ with her? “I’m sorry. I’m tired. Um... we had a bad date!”

And there it was. The truth. They’d had a bad date, and it wasn’t because of the sushi. And it wasn’t just her that was off... it was them. They felt different, like they were no longer in sync or something. Maybe they just didn’t work at school. 

“It happens,” she told him, suddenly on damage control. “I’ll meet you back at the school, okay? I’m sure that everything’s gonna be fine tomorrow.”

Landon looked as if he was about to argue, but she didn’t give him a chance as she shoved past him and ran back towards the restaurant. 

She couldn’t go back to school. Not yet. Not until she figured out what was wrong with her head.

° ° °

If there was a way to kill a Phoenix, Landon had better pray that Hope never found it, because if she did she was going to _kill_ him. 

Not for kissing Josie, or being her boyfriend, but because he had left her _alone_ in the town square to be attacked by one _very_ pissed off monster. 

Hope and Alaric had decided to wait until nightfall for the creature to make an appearance, and they hadn’t been disappointed. 

They’d had a plan. One involving Hope’s magic and Alaric’s crossbow, but all of that vanished from her mind when she saw the monster charging towards where Josie sat on the park bench. 

All it took was one spell, and the creature went flying through the air and away from Josie.  
  
Before it could regain it’s footing, Hope launched herself at it, her fist connecting with the creature’s jaw. 

It roared in pain, but before she could strike again, it swung it’s fist into her chest. Hope felt her feet lift off the ground as she flew backward, the air leaving her lungs when she collided with the cement. 

The force of the creature’s blow rendered her momentarily unable to breathe, and she lay motionless on the ground, struggling to think past the tightness in her chest. By the time she rose to her knees, the troll was standing in front of her. Before she could even think of a spell to cast, the monster had wrapped a hand around her throat and mouth. 

Hope was lifted into the air as she struggled against the creature’s grip, the atrocious smell of it’s skin making it difficult to breathe again. She tugged against the hand covering her face, but it was useless.

The monster raised it’s arm, preparing to hit her again, but before it’s fist could find its mark an arrow pierced it through the hand. 

It roared, releasing Hope as it stumbled backward, trying to pry the arrow from it’s palm. 

She crumpled to the ground, gasping for air as she tried to force her body to move. Through her hazy vision, she saw Alaric charge toward the creature, crossbow in hand. The monster let loose another screech of pain, and then there was a grunt and a crack as Alaric flew through the air and landed on the pavement.

But Hope had finally managed to catch her breath. 

“Hey, you,” she crooned, rising to her feet as the creature turned its attention to her. “ _Incendia_!”

The monster’s head burst into flames, and it roared, flailing it’s arms and batting at it’s fire-consumed scalp. If it didn’t like sunlight, she’d figured fire wouldn’t be its best friend either. 

It managed to put out the flames, but they had burned away the clump of hair on its head, and that’s when she saw it.

 _It_ being the singular eye on the monster’s forehead. 

“New theory,” Alaric yelled from his place on the ground, still wincing and groaning from his collision with the pavement. “Cyclops!” 

“Yeah,” Hope gasped, still out of breathe from the creature’s attempt to strangle her. 

Spotting the discarded crossbow a few feet away from her on the grass, Hope lifted it, aimed, and fired. 

Directly into the cyclops’s eyeball. 

The creature didn’t even roar, it just groaned, as if all the life had left it’s body. Hope lowered the crossbow as the cyclops toppled backward and hit the ground with a resounding thump. 

Alaric stumbled to her side, still gasping for breathe. “Ugh,” he said, staring at the fallen cyclops with disgust. “You think it’s really...”

Hope couldn’t find the energy to answer him. Her senses had dulled the moment the arrow had pierced the cyclops’s eye, and her surroundings had taken on a strange, echoing quality. The crossbow was dead weight in her arms. 

As if it had been waiting for Alaric to ask, the cyclops dissolved into ashes and embers, its remnants drifting into the air. 

Yep. Dead.

“Great,” Alaric said, taking the crossbow from her. “Let’s get out of here.”

He was gone before she could really register it, running back towards the Mystic Grill.

Hope turned to follow him, tearing her gaze away from the place where the cyclops had been, and then she froze. 

Because Josie was staring right at her.

For a single second, when their eyes met, everything else faded away. Alaric and the cyclops and the fact that the entire world had forgotten she existed. The knot of tension and anxiety she’d been carrying around since she had escaped Malivore vanished, and for the first time all day Hope felt like she could breathe again. 

The embers were still drifting through the air, and Josie looked even more beautiful than Hope had remembered her. 

It was a single second, and then it was over.

But it was something.

° ° °

“That was some nice work back there,” Alaric said, grinning at her as he polished his crossbow in the lantern-lit alleyway behind the Mystic Grill. “Surprising amount of overlap between troll and cyclops.” 

“Yeah, there really is,” she said, and the laugh that followed was genuine. 

It was easier than Hope had thought it would be, to talk with Alaric as if she hadn’t just had a romantic staring contest with his daughter. Who may or may not be the love of her life.

Maybe she was getting better at this. 

But then the warmth in Alaric’s smile settled, and she braced herself for whatever it was he was about to say. 

“Look,” Alaric sighed, looking at the crossbow in his hands. “I know you’re not gonna stay.”

He was right, even if some part of her wished that he wasn’t. But if he was going to try and convince her otherwise...

“Here,” he said, offering the crossbow to her. “Take it.” 

Oh. She had expected a lecture, a plea for her to stay, but this... 

She took it from him, searching for the right words to thank him for the kindness. And to say goodbye, she realized. 

She wouldn’t see him after this, she _shouldn’t_ see him, if she wanted to leave her old life behind. He wasn’t her father, not even close, but... he’d been there for her. He’d trained and taught and protected her, in his own way. And she didn’t know how to thank him for it, not when he didn’t remember who she was. 

“Be safe out there,” Alaric said, turning to leave. 

No. She needed to say _something_ , even if she couldn’t tell him the truth. She recalled how MG had told him that he’d always be his headmaster, the way Alaric’s gaze had softened at the words. 

“You’re good at this, you know.”

Alaric turned to face her, a teasing smile in place. “Monster hunting?” 

“Helping kids,” she finished.

Alaric’s chuckled, and he smiled at her before turning to leave. 

“You should keep the beard,” she called over her shoulder, unable to stop herself as she turned and walked up the steps, crossbow in hand. 

° ° °

After Hope left Alaric, she had realized something: she had absolutely no idea what to do next. 

So, she’d returned to the town square, sat down on a park bench, and taken the prism from her bag. Maybe a chat with holographic Josie would help her to decide what she should do, give her some closure. 

But it wasn’t what she wanted. Josie wasn’t here, and this... it felt like she was stealing moments that weren’t hers to begin with. It wouldn’t matter how many times she used the prism, it wasn’t going to make Josie remember her. 

So, what was the point? 

_I’m just here to kill this monster._

_I’m just passing through._

_I can’t stay and put all of you in danger._

_I work better alone._

She’d meant all of those things when she’d said them to Alaric, or at least she’d thought she had. But maybe he wasn’t the only person she’d been trying to convince. 

The cyclops was dead, and with it her last excuse to stay was gone. There was nothing keeping her here, not anymore.

So, why did it feel like she had unfinished business?

 _You know why,_ urged the voice in her head.

The voice that she wasn’t listening to, because it was only going to get her into trouble, and this situation was complicated enough as is. 

She returned the prism to the bag at her feet, and it clinked against the crossbow as she set it inside. That was when she heard it.

“Hey,” said a quiet, tentative voice from behind her. A _familiar_ voice. 

She lifted her head, and that’s when she saw her. Josie. 

She was standing on the other side of the courtyard, clutching her journal to her chest, still wearing her outfit from earlier. When she’d been on a _date_ with Landon. Right.

“Hey,” Hope said, unable to craft a better response with all of her attention focused on keeping her voice from breaking. She couldn’t hide the slight tremor that her greeting held, though, and hoped Josie wouldn’t notice how unsteady her voice was.

Beautiful. She looked beautiful, almost as if she wasn’t real. 

Hope glanced down at her feet, needing to confirm that this was the real Josie and not the holographic version, but the prism remained still and silent in her bag. 

“We saw each other earlier, right?”

It took Hope a moment to understand what Josie meant, to tamper down the hope that she had somehow remembered her.

“Yeah,” she said, choking on the word. “Uh, I was just out on a walk to clear my head.”

Josie was walking towards her. God, was she going to sit down?

“Rough night?” She asked, her brows crinkling in concern. 

_Rough year, was more like it. For more reasons than one._

“Yeah, actually,” Hope said instead. “Relationship trouble.”

The warmth in Josie’s eyes dulled, and she sighed as she grimaced at Hope. “Well, that makes two of us.”

“Why? You too?” She didn’t care, she didn’t care, she didn’t care. 

Josie smiled at her then, laughing under her breath, the sound more nerves than anything, and Hope felt her heart melt into something molten as she sat down beside her on the park bench. 

They were so close, _too_ close, and it was an effort to speak like a normal person when all she could smell was Josie’s perfume. Vanilla and sandalwood and something distinctly _Josie_ that smelled like burning embers. 

She suddenly wanted to do something stupid, like tell Josie everything. Or kiss her. 

_Kiss her, definitely kiss her,_ said the voice in her head.

Okay, so she would have to ignore _that_ particular impulse.

Josie had always had this effect on her, though. The urge to kiss her and tell her everything that was on her mind all at once wasn’t a new one.

“Yeah,” Josie sighed, avoiding Hope’s gaze as she tugged at the fraying edge of her skirt. “I’m with this guy, and he’s amazing, but all of a sudden it’s like everything is super weird and complicated. And I can’t help but feel like it’s all my fault, but I have _no idea_ how to fix it.”

“Huh,” Hope said, and she couldn’t even bring herself to form a more coherent response, because it was taking everything she had to kill the butterflies that were stirring in her stomach. 

She valued Josie’s happiness more than anything, but still, there was a small, vindictive part of her that was thrilled to know that Landon and Josie’s relationship wasn’t as perfect as it had seemed.

Not that it changed anything. 

Hope realized that Josie was staring at her as if waiting for something, and then she realized she was expecting her to share _her_ relationship troubles. Oh, well this was perfect, wasn’t it?

“Oh,” she said, unable to keep the bitter note of amusement from her voice. “Old story, I guess. I fell for a girl who doesn’t even know that I exist.”

As soon as she said it, she realized that _nope_ , it was still too soon to make jokes about her current situation. That particular wound was still fresh. 

But Josie’s gaze softened, her mouth curving into a frown. “I’m sorry,” she said, and the amount of emotion in her voice managed to surprise Hope.

She’d forgotten, she realized, how large Josie’s capacity to care for people was. Even complete strangers. 

There was beat of silence following Josie’s words, and Hope could sense the energy crackling between them. Her magic, calling out to Josie’s, the pull difficult to resist. It made her want to move, to close the space between them, to make it nonexistent. And that wasn’t just the magic talking. 

“He is _so_ great,” Josie said, and even though Hope flinched at the words, at the chill that spread through her bones as her magic went dormant, she could tell that Josie was talking to the air as much as she was talking to her. “And in the beginning it was so effortless, but now it just feels... off? And maybe that’s just me, I don’t know. I tried so hard to make it perfect, to be the _perfect_ girlfriend, but all I seem to do is make things worse.”

Well, she hadn’t been expecting _that_. She should say something, offer Josie advice, comfort her. And yet the words seemed to be trapped in her throat, struggling to escape even as they made it harder and harder to breathe.

_All I seem to do is make things worse._

( _What am I supposed to do with that, Jo?_ )

“Sorry,” Josie said, seeming to realize everything she’d just said as she flushed scarlet. “I didn’t mean to just... dump all of that on you.”

“No,” Hope said, because the last thing she wanted was for Josie to apologize to her. _I don’t mind listening,_ she wanted to scream. _I’d listen to you all night, if you wanted. Even if all you want to talk about is your relationship with my ex-boyfriend._

But Josie needed to say this, to speak the words she’d been holding inside of herself, she could tell. The fact that Hope was a stranger to her didn’t matter, in fact, it probably made it easier. 

“You know, um...” she said, trailing off as she braced herself to speak the words she knew would send Josie back to Landon. “This girl I used to date... she taught me that you have to be brave enough to be vulnerable with people, to be imperfect. Even if it’s scary.”

As she said it, she felt the inner-barrier that had been keeping her buried pain and grief at bay fracture, and the burn of unshed tears became harder to ignore. 

Hope wanted to help, she did, more than anything. But this was Landon’s job, not hers. Not anymore. 

“You know,” said Josie, offering Hope a tired smile. “You’re going to have to take your own advice and tell that girl of yours that you exist.” 

The suggestion tugged at her heartstrings, the words almost prying the truth from her lips. Hope turned away from Josie to wipe a stray tear from her cheek. “Oh, I don’t know about that,” she said, choking on a laugh.

“Why not?”

“Because,” Hope sighed, a grim smile in place as she met Josie’s steady gaze. “The universe seems to enjoy taking the people I care about away from me. And I don’t want that to happen with her.”

 _It already has,_ said the voice in her head. It seemed to have lost its positive outlook. 

Josie, however, looked unfazed by the statement. “Well,” she said, “it seems to me like you’re someone worth knowing. And if this girl doesn’t realize that, then she doesn’t deserve you.”

_Or maybe it’s because I don’t deserve her._

“Thanks,” Hope said to Josie, ignoring the pain that thought had invoked, the sudden tightness in her chest.

“Thanks for listening,” Josie said as she stood, her smile tinged with a certain sadness as she turned away from Hope. “I hope your nights gets better.”

Every part of Hope was screaming at Josie to stay, but she was unable to actually speak the words.

And as Josie walked away from her, Hope let a single sob escape. 

° ° °

Josie stood in front of Landon’s room, dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a dark blue sweatshirt, gathering her courage as she raised a hand and knocked on the door. 

“Come in,” he said, his voice muffled through the wood.

Josie turned the handle, stepped inside, and found Landon looking at her with a surprised expression on his face.

“Oh, it’s you. I didn’t think—“

“I’m sorry,” she said, interrupting what she was sure was going to be Landon’s own apology speech. “You were right. I wasn’t honest with you, earlier. I’m not sick, um... I’m allergic to seaweed.”

“Sushi’s like all seaweed,” he said, his face twisting in disbelief. “And you ate it anyway? Why?”

Josie sighed, tugging on the edge of her shirt to try and hide how anxious she was, as she moved to sit beside Landon on the bed. 

_You have to be brave enough to be vulnerable with people, to be imperfect. Even if it’s scary._

“Um, because you seemed like you really wanted sushi,” she said, heat rising to her cheeks as she smiled sheepishly at Landon, aware of how ridiculous she sounded. “I didn’t wanna be a problem on our first date.”

“Why would that be a problem?” Landon asked, sounding genuinely confused.

Oh, god, she really had screwed this up, hadn’t she? 

“Because I’m always the caretaker,” Josie told him, finally allowing herself to acknowledge why today had felt so... off. “And today just really freaked me out, because you didn’t need me at all. And if I’m not fixing problems I have no idea where I belong in your life. So I was stupid and I was jealous. Because I’m just afraid that there’s no place for me.“

Landon’s expression softened, and she felt a rush of relief that he wasn’t completely put off by her codependent tendencies.

Penelope had left because of her, because she was tired of Josie’s dependence on her sister. As she was getting better, she was... but was it enough?

“And that’s just... how I am,” she admitted, because she wanted Landon to understand this, to understand her. “With boys, girls, apparently I’m always codependent and ridiculous.”

“Or,” Landon said, interrupting her before she could spiral into another bout of self-loathing. “You’ve just never been in a relationship where what you want matters.”

Penelope had cared about her, she knew that. And she’d been right, about a lot of things, but...

“Besides,” Landon continued. “You’re not the only ridiculous one. I’m pretty sure I’m a fraud. I mean everyone said I stopped Malivore, but all I did was wake up next to an empty pit. I have no idea what happened. Only that I’m not the hero they think I am.”

Okay, so maybe Landon wasn’t handling everything as well as she’d thought he was.

“I went along with it because it felt nice,” he admitted. “I enjoyed it. It finally felt like I belonged here. And most of all, um, I was doing it because I wanted to impress you.” 

At that, Josie’s chest filled with warmth, and she couldn’t stop herself from grinning at him. He was trying to impress _her_?

“I know,” Landon said, laughing at her incredulous expression. “I mean you’re this all powerful witch and I wanted you to think that I was the kind of guy that could take care of you. You’re the kind of girl that deserves to be taken care of.“

Maybe this was why it had been so hard. They were both caretakers, who tended to put other people’s happiness before their own. But maybe... they could take care of each other, this time.

“Every once in a while, at least,” Landon amended, smiling at her as Josie laughed.

“Well,” she said, unable to stop herself from making sure Landon knew this wasn’t an easy fix. “I don’t want to be codependent. I really don’t. But you should know it’s gonna take some time for me to change.”

“Yeah,” Landon said, soothing the pit of worry in her stomach. “And you should know I’m gonna do way too much, and go over the top with big speeches, and boyfriend gestures, and try to make everything perfect.”

 _Boyfriend_.

As sweet as Landon was being, Josie didn’t really hear anything else he said after that word. “Did you just say boyfriend?” 

Maybe it was a mistake, maybe he hadn’t meant it, maybe...

“Yeah, I think I did.”

And that’s when she kissed him.

° ° °

When Hope entered Alaric’s office, knocking on the door to announce her presence, she once again felt an overwhelming sense of déjà vu.

Alaric closed his notebook, his eyes widening in surprise as he noticed who’d entered his office. 

“Um,” she said, questioning her choice to come here at the sound of her voice, quiet and hoarse from the sobs she’d choked back in the town square. It was still difficult to breathe, the panic that made her lungs tighten and heart pound mounting at the thought of what she was about to tell him. But she needed to do this. After Josie had left her, she had realized that she couldn’t be alone anymore. She wouldn’t survive it. 

“My name’s not Hope Marshall,” she told him, clenching her fists to stop her hands from shaking. “It’s Hope Mikaelson. I’m Klaus and Hayley’s daughter.”

She watched as Alaric’s confused expression shifted into shock, and then recognition. 

At the thought of someone knowing who her parents were, her _real_ parents, Hope almost broke before she could finish explaining. 

“And I know you don’t remember this,” she said, and now her voice _did_ break. “But, um, you’re the closest thing I have to a father now.” 

Alaric was standing now, and he took a step towards her, pain lining his face. Hope wanted to tell him she was okay, but she doubted he would believe her with the tears coating her face. 

“And the entire world has forgotten that I exist.”

She had thought she’d come to terms with that fact, but speaking it out loud, to someone else, was truly the first time she’d understood what it meant. Her friends, her family, a random person she’d met on the street... they wouldn’t recognize her if she was standing right in front of them.

But still, that wasn’t why she felt as if her heart had been ripped from her chest. 

“And the girl I love has moved on,” she told Alaric, some distant part of her recognizing that he had no idea she was talking about his daughter, even as her voice trembled and shook at the thought of Josie. 

“So,” she finished. “I have absolutely no idea what to do next.”

And there it was. The truth, despite her efforts to convince herself otherwise.

She looked at Alaric then, biting her lip to prevent another sob from escaping, pleading for him to tell her how to fix this, to have the answers like he always did.

“It’s okay,” he said, sighing as he stepped towards her, his gaze searching. “We’ll figure it out together.”

He took another step in her direction, and Hope fell into him, pressing her head into his chest. 

_You’re the closest thing I have to a father now._

Alaric’s arms closed around her, his hand running a soothing stroke against her back through her jacket, and Hope allowed herself to cry into his chest.

It wasn’t home, it wasn’t Josie, but for the first time in months... Hope wasn’t alone anymore.

° ° °

Josie was in the kitchen, standing by the fireplace as she made herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, when Professor Vardemus appeared in the doorway.

“I saw that little spell you cast on your classmate.”

_Oh, crap._

If she had enough energy, she might have tried to deny his accusation, but after the day she’d had Josie simply braced herself for whatever punishment he had planned for her. 

“Next time,” he said, moving from the doorway to stand in front of her. “Use the incantation prefix _cronox_. It puts a delayed reaction on any spell, and when it happens you’re long gone. Harder to get caught.”

Wait, what? Was he... _encouraging_ her to use black magic again? 

Noting her confusion, Professor Vardemus smirked at her. “You’re a very powerful witch, Josie,” he said, and she couldn’t help the pride that filled her at the words. “I’m creating a new magic curriculum for advanced students, invitation only. I’d like you to be the first. Offensive magic is a dangerous tool that has its place, but it requires discipline.”

Josie’s lips curved into a small smile, and she nodded. 

“Speaking of discipline,” he continued, removing a pocket watch from his robe. “Curfew begins in three minutes.”

And with that, he turned and left Josie standing in the kitchen. 

Maybe this year wouldn’t be so bad after all.


	3. waves on the ocean, hearts in the sand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Fine,” she snarled, one eye on the Shunka as it regained it’s footing. “Turn around.”
> 
> “Why?” Josie demanded, scowling at her, as if Hope was wasting their time. 
> 
> “Because, Plan B involves me getting naked.”
> 
> _“What?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope y’all enjoy this chapter :) don’t forget to comment/leave kudos if you do!

They say that it’s better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. 

In Hope’s experience, whoever had written that was full of shit. 

For a start, they’d clearly never experienced the love of their life forgetting their entire existence. Losing Josie hadn’t made her more receptive to love, it just made her want to be alone. 

_You couldn’t lose what you never had, right?_

Hope’s inner monologue was interrupted by a flash of silver in her peripheral, followed by a screeching crash that grated against her nerves, and she flinched on instinct. 

But the source of the sound wasn’t the next Malivore monster, or even anything remotely supernatural, just some obnoxious high schoolers. The trash can they’d knocked over was rolling on it’s side, spilling it’s contents onto the pavement, and Hope immediately felt ridiculous. 

As soon as the kids saw her they started running, but Hope was still focused on keeping her breathing steady as her heart rate slowed. She hadn’t realized how much _noise_ people made until she’d been isolated from them for three months. She’d be fine, though, she just needed to adjust.

One thing she’d never adjust to, though, was the stupidity of high-school sports teams. The Timberwolves sign on the side of the school had been covered in spray paint, the words _Stallion’s Rule_ screaming at her in yellow paint. Could they seriously not think of anything more creative than that?

There was the familiar shriek of a siren, and then a police car screeched to a halt in front of her. A woman stepped out of the driver’s seat, her uniform identifying her as the new town sheriff. 

“This looks pretty self-explanatory, but you wanna give it a shot?”

That was when Hope realized that she was standing next to a graffitied sign, surrounded by trash and toilet paper, and that _yes_ , she probably appeared quite guilty. Still, she didn’t have time for this. 

“Um, toxic masculinity mixed with outdated sports pranks?” She offered as an explanation, which actually managed to coax a grin out of the woman.

“There’s no way Hope did it. She’s a Timberwolf, not a Stallion.” The voice had come from behind the sheriff, and Hope looked at the police car, which now had it’s back window rolled down, and saw...

“Maya? What happened?”

“Oh, don’t worry, she’s my mom.”

Hope had spent the better part of the last ten years in Mystic Falls, but the whole small-town phenomenon still managed to amaze her at times. 

“We don’t really like to talk about it,” Maya said as she stepped out of the car, and Hope saw her mother smirk out of the corner of her eye. But... 

“We?”

“Hey, Hope,” said a second, _male_ voice , and that’s when Ethan appeared at Maya’s side. 

“Ethan? So, you guys are...”

“My kids,” answered the sheriff. “No matter how much it embarrasses them.”

“Cause who doesn’t like getting dropped off to school in a cop car?” Ethan said, smirking at Hope as he passed his mother and followed his sister inside the school. 

“I’m on official business,” the sheriff called after them, but Maya and Ethan both ignored her.

Siblings, huh? Hope was still processing _that_ whole situation, when the sheriff turned to her. 

“Now,” she said. “Show me where I can find Principal Saltzman.”

° ° °

“Did you get all that?”

Hope waited until the sheriff had shut the office door behind her before she lifted the invisibility enchantment, smirking at Alaric when he turned to find her sitting in his chair.

“Yeah,” she said, unable to keep the grin off of her face. “She’s definitely into you.”

“What?” Alaric said, and she was reminded of how oblivious he could be. “No, no. She’s just new to town, trying to make friends. Which is exactly what you need to be doing.”

And, there it was. Ever since she’d told Alaric the truth, he‘d been trying to convince her to return to school. He thought he was being subtle, but bringing the topic up in every conversation was _pretty_ obvious. And friends were the last thing she needed right now. 

“Yeah, well,” she said as she got to her feet. “Tried that last year, didn’t really work out. So, I’m gonna focus on monster slaying.”

“Well, it sounds like there could be another monster lurking around the Salvatore School. I’ll check in with Dorian since he has access to research we don’t. Any other ideas?”

Missing dogs, missing students. And today just happened to be the annual Salvatore School versus Mystic Falls High flag football game. 

Hope was going to regret this, wasn’t she? 

“Just one. But, we are both going to hate it.”

° ° °

Josie was... well, she was concerned.

Unlike last year, it wasn’t because she had to prevent her sister from exposing their secret to the entire Mystic Falls High flag football team, or because she was afraid of disappointing her dad. It wasn’t because Professor Vardemus had told them to use their powers to win the game, either. Her dad would never approve, but there had been some truth to what Vardemus had said at the assembly. Losing on purpose, not giving their all... it _had_ always felt a little wrong. And the point of today wasn’t to expose themselves to the world, but to practice control. 

But, Josie was concerned, because if Landon couldn’t _catch_ the football, they’d lose even _with_ their powers. 

“Sorry,” he said, after what was probably his thirtieth time dropping the ball. Josie was trying to be patient, she really was. “Foster care didn’t have a football team.”

Josie sighed, but she forgot her frustration when Landon started to panic. “What did I tell you? I’m a total fraud and now the whole school’s gonna see it. This is a total disaster—“

“Landon,” she said, reaching out and taking his hands in hers. “Like I told you, I’m really good at taking care of people. We’re gonna get through this.”

“How?” He demanded. “I can’t even throw!”

“Yes, you can,” she told him. “You just need a little help.”

Landon still looked confused, but Josie closed her eyes and siphoned magic from where their hands were touching, muttering the spell under her breath. 

“What’d you just do?” Landon asked when she’d finished, flexing his hands, as if feeling for a difference.

Josie smiled at him, picking up the football he’d dropped and offering it to him as she said, “See for yourself.”

Landon looked at her, obviously not expecting this to work, but Josie just gestured at him to throw it. 

He did, and it flew through the air in a perfect arc, soaring right over the heads of their teammates and into the parking lot, where it hit the glass door of the school bus that had just pulled up with enough force that it shattered the glass. 

“That’s my quarterback!” Kaleb shouted from the other side of the field, above the applause and cheers that were coming from the stands. 

Josie beamed at Landon, who was looking at the ball he’d thrown as if he still couldn’t believe that was _him_. She opened her mouth to congratulate him, to tease him about his lack of faith in her abilities, but she was distracted by the door of the school bus opening. More specifically, she was distracted by _who_ stepped out. 

It was the girl, the one she’d talked to in the town square the night before after her fight with Landon, who’d told her she should try and be more vulnerable with him. 

Her hair was in two braids instead of loose waves, and the hoop earrings and lipgloss had been replaced by studs and a face free of makeup, but she was still... pretty. Objectively speaking, of course. 

And wearing a Salvatore Stallions uniform. 

“Do you know that girl?” Asked Landon, and even though he didn’t sound jealous, Josie still felt a little guilty. Had it been wrong of her to tell a stranger about their relationship problems? Would Landon be angry with her? She didn’t think so, but...

“Not really,” she told him, although she realized she was still staring as the girl ran to catch up with the tall, athletic looking boy who’d gotten off the bus before her. “She was in the town square last night and we talked, that’s all.”

Landon nodded at her, clearly not picking up on the note of unease in her voice, and Josie told herself to forget about it. The girl was a stranger, after all, and it was unlikely she’d ever see her again after today. It shouldn’t matter that she hadn’t told her that she went to school in Mystic Falls. She probably didn’t even remember Josie. 

Even if, for a single moment, when Josie had been watching her... she thought the girl had been staring back.

° ° °

Hope, as usual, was correct. She did hate this.

Organized school events weren’t her thing, and neither were team sports. She was entirely out of her element, and Lizzie had been right when she’d said there was no way to make these jerseys look cute.

But, that was the least of her worries as she followed Maya onto the field and saw Josie and Landon standing in the center of it.

Well, this should be fun.

Josie’s hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, black paint lining her cheeks, and even with the jersey she looked... cute. In an adorable, ready-to-tackle-you into the dirt kind of way.

 _Stop it,_ Hope growled at the voice in her head, gritting her teeth and forcing herself to focus on something other than Josie. 

A distraction came in the form of a man dressed entirely in shades of pastel, the hat and bow tie he was wearing making sense as soon as she heard the accent. Professor Vardemus, the man who’d replaced Alaric as headmaster. 

Hope barely listened to his opening speech, her attempt to ignore Josie failing when she noticed that she was staring at her. Hope smiled at her, but Josie didn’t return the gesture, biting her lip instead as she turned her attention back to the bow-tied British man.

Who looked as if he was speaking directly to Josie as he said, “I expect only for each team to play to the fullest extent of their abilities. Understood?”

Hope glanced between Josie and Landon as she tried to decipher the hidden meaning behind his words, the latter of whom was shifting from foot to foot as if he was nervous. Josie, however, was smirking.

“Timberwolves of Mystic Falls,” Vardemus said, returning Josie’s knowing look. “You may, as I believe they say, call it in the air.”

He flipped the coin, and Maya called heads as it spun through the air. And...

 _Tails._

“Tails never fails,” said Landon, although he still wasn’t meeting anyone’s gaze.

“We’ll take the ball,” Josie added with a smile.

“So it begins,” said the headmaster, and Hope couldn’t help but think he looked far too pleased with himself. He moved to leave, but not before telling them to shake hands.

Hope reached out and took Landon’s hand, ignoring his questioning stare. Had he seen how she was looking at Josie? 

Josie, who was now standing in front of her, waiting to shake her hand. 

“Hey,” she said, although her eyes followed Landon as he brushed past Hope and headed towards the other end of the field. ”You never told me you were a Timberwolf.”

There was a note of accusation in her voice, but Hope didn’t dare try and ease it. It would be easier if Josie kept her distance. “Sorry,” she said, holding out her hand, hoping the smile on her face didn’t look too forced.

Josie took it, and Hope felt the traces of a phantom heat where they touched, her nerves sparking at the contact. It lasted only a second before Josie snapped her hand back, and Hope curled her own into a fist and buried it in her jersey to prevent herself from reaching for her. 

Her eyes caught a flicker of gold, and Hope leaned down to pick up the coin that was lying in the grass. As soon as her fingers touched it, whatever spell Josie had cast broke. The coin flared white, and when she turned it over the second tails face morphed back to heads. 

Well, if that’s how they wanted to play, Hope wasn’t going to stop them.

Even if Professor Vardemus was cheating. And he was using Josie to do it.

° ° °

“Dorian found the missing kid,” Alaric told her when she found him at the side of the field. “Thank god he’s okay, but we definitely have another monster wandering around in these woods. Dorian’s digging into the research, but he thinks it’s a Shunka.”

“What’s—“

“And before you ask what that is,” Alaric said, interrupting her before she could. “It’s a carnivorous creature that feeds only on werewolves.”

Since a third of the student body were werewolves, the news wasn’t exactly ideal, she knew that. Still, they’d be alright as long as they didn’t venture into the woods. 

“Good thing it’s not a full moon,” she said, hoping Alaric would agree with her and they could solve that problem, at least. 

“Yeah,” he said, but his expression said that it wasn’t that simple. “Except, Raf has been stuck in wolf form ever since you’ve been gone.”

“Wait, Raf?” She asked, not fully registering his words. “I didn’t even know that he turned—“

_Oh, fuck._

“Yeah,” Alaric told her. “Happened fighting Triad, hasn’t been able to turn back since.”

Oh, she’d really screwed up this time. God, she was an _idiot_. 

“Yeah, of course he can’t turn back,” she snapped, even though she knew she was angry with herself, not Alaric. “I’m the only one who can turn him back, I’m the one who gave him that Crescent moon ring.”

Hope felt a rush of shame. How could she have forgotten about Rafael? When she’d dove into the Malivore pit, she hadn’t given one thought to what would happen to him if he used the ring to turn. And now, he’d been trapped in his wolf form for months. She knew the kind of mental trauma that kind of isolation could cause, had experienced it firsthand in the months after her parents had died, when she’d spent the summer at Davina and Kol’s cabin. She’d barely left the woods for weeks, living in her wolf form as a way of dulling the pain. It had helped, but it hadn’t made returning to society any easier, not when she had struggled to adjust to crowds, to the slightest noises. Just like she was now.

“Okay,” she said, sighing as she rubbed at the headache already forming between her temples. This day was not going the way she’d hoped. “Look, I gotta go find him, before the Shunka finds him first.”

“Agreed,” said Alaric, scanning the field and the stands. She was fairly sure the Salvatore School had just scored, judging by the cheers coming from their section of the bleachers. “We just gotta find a way to ditch this game.”

Had he not heard her say _I_? “No,” she said, already prepared to argue her case. “Rafael is my responsibility, you need to stay here and keep an eye on that new headmaster.”

“Why?” Alaric demanded. 

“Because, he already used magic to cheat,” she told him, purposefully not mentioning Josie’s involvement. “He’s up to something.”

Alaric scoffed. “Caroline picked my replacement herself, there’s no way she’s gonna hire—“

Hope shot a pointed look to where their British, bow-tied friend was standing on the sidelines, umbrella in hand. Alaric followed her stare, and scowled. 

“Weirdo with an umbrella,” he finished, and Hope nodded in agreement.

“Okay, I’m on it,” he said, and Hope congratulated herself on her successful baiting. Not that the new headmaster wasn’t a concern, especially if he was involved with Josie, but she was hunting bigger game today and she needed Alaric to stay out of her way. She’d been correct in her assumption that tasking him with keeping an eye on his replacement would keep him preoccupied.

Now, she just had to plot her escape.

° ° °

Maya was on the other end of the field when she found her, and if Hope had to guess, the pissed-off expression on her face was due to a totally not-plausible play by the Stallions. 

“Hey,” Hope said, pulling Maya to her feet.

“Thought I had her,” Maya grumbled, but she sounded more confused than angry. “Trick play, I guess.” 

_God, Josie, what are you doing?_

“You have no idea,” Hope told her. “We’re screwed.”

“Hey,” Maya said, nudging Hope in the side with an elbow. “It was just one score. And you’re gonna march us straight down that field and tie us up.”

Hope appreciated Maya’s optimism, but she really didn’t understand what they were up against—

Wait, what did Maya mean by _she_ was going to tie them up? 

“What do you mean?” She asked, even though she had a sneaking suspicion of what Maya’s answer would be. “Your brother’s the quarterback.”

“No, not today. He can’t risk blowing out his knee on some pickup game,”Maya explained, and Hope realized she was right. Ethan hadn’t started, which she should have found odd considering he was on the _actual_ high school football team. Again, sports weren’t really her thing. 

Which was why this was a _terrible_ idea.

“So, we’re all counting on you,” Maya said, smirking at her as she patted Hope on the back. She was enjoying this _far_ too much for Hope’s liking. 

The apprehensive look on Hope’s face must have clued Ethan in to what Maya had just told her, because he started cheering for her from the sidelines. 

Well, she had said she wanted to be QB-1.

° ° °

After Hope had informed Alaric that she would be sticking around for the next play, she made her way onto the field.

“Okay,” she said, squeezing herself into the huddle next to Maya. “Alright guys, let’s do this.”

“Do what?” Maya prompted, raising her eyebrows at Hope. “You’re the quarterback, Hope. You call the plays.”

Right. She’d fought monsters that only existed in myth and legend, saved her boarding school from a military invasion, and spent her summer vacation in a hell dimension. She could organize a game of flag football.

“Everybody go long?” She suggested, mostly because it was one of the few football terms she knew.

It probably was a bad call since she hadn’t actually thrown the ball, but how hard could it be?

“Works for me,” Maya said, giving Hope an encouraging smile. “Timberwolves on three?”

Hope really, really needed to get out of here.

° ° °

“You’re blitzing on first down,” Josie told Landon as she took her place beside him on the starting line. 

“Cool,” he said, still out of breath from their last play. “What does that mean, exactly?”

“It means,” Josie explained, aware of the irritation in her voice but not caring enough to get rid of it. “The second she snaps the ball you yell _blitz_ and you bury little miss two braids.”

Josie looked to where the girl was standing on the other side of the field, and noticed that she honestly looked like she was about to be sick. _An act,_ she told herself, even though a part of her knew she was being slightly irrational. 

Landon must have noticed the glare she had settled on the girl because he said, “That’s aggressive.”

“Do you have a problem hitting her or something? Because she had no problem hitting on me last night.”

Josie had no idea what had prompted those words to come out of her mouth, especially since they weren’t true. The girl had been nice, friendly, _comforting_ even, but besides a few lingering stares there was no indication she harbored any feelings for Josie, least of all that she’d _hit on her._

So, why did it feel like there was more to it?

“ _What?_ ” Landon said, sounding more confused than angry.

“Nothing,” Josie mumbled, suddenly finding the ground at her feet incredibly interesting. “Forget I said anything.”

“Josie—“ Landon started, but he stopped talking at the glare she sent in his direction. 

“Blitzing on first down,” he mumbled. “Got it.”

Josie stepped back into her starting position, shoving in her mouth guard as she sent a heated glare towards the other side of the field. The girl frowned when she met Josie’s gaze, sighing and looking down at her feet.

A girl from the other team— Maya, Josie recalled— threw the ball to her, but the girl didn’t even catch it. It fell to the ground, and she stumbled backward, grappling for it. 

Josie started running, only to look back and see that Landon was exactly where she’d left him. 

“Landon!” She yelled, gesturing at him to take his chance and tackle the girl before she got her bearings. 

But Landon just stood there, staring blankly at the other end of the field, and Josie growled in irritation. “Fine,” she snapped. “I’ll do it.”

She charged forward, reaching her target just as the girl raised her arm to throw the ball. Josie tackled her, wrapping her arms around her waist and pulling her to the ground. 

The girl landed on top of her, and Josie groaned as an elbow jabbed her in the side as she took the brunt of the girl’s weight. 

And then, she turned her head, prepared to find that their team had made the winning touchdown, only to watch as Maya took the ball and ran it straight into the end zone. The red and black portion of the bleachers cheered, and Maya spiked the ball into the dirt before she was surrounded by a swarm of her teammates. 

And just like that, they were tied.

° ° °

Hope groaned, the ache she felt in her bones momentarily distracting her from exactly _who_ she was lying on top of.

She was never one to underestimate Josie, but _damn_ , that girl took her flag football seriously. She been right about the whole _adorable until she tackles you into the dirt_ thing. 

Josie squirmed beneath her, struggling to get her arm free from where it was pinned under Hope. Hope rose into a sitting position, unable to resist giving Josie an incredulous look over her shoulder. 

“Nice offense, killer,” she said, smirking at her.

She’d meant it as a compliment, but Josie didn’t take it that way. “Well, my boyfriend wasn’t going to hit you, so someone had to.”

 _Boyfriend_. Wonderful. 

“Look, Josie—“

“How do you know my name?”

 _Shit_. Hope had the strong urge to slap herself across the face for being so incredibly stupid, but she refused to even flinch as she fumbled for a plausible excuse. Thankfully, one came to her. “Your dad,” she offered as an explanation. “He’s the principal, and the coach, so—“

“I’m aware,” Josie snapped, but if Hope didn’t know any better, there was a note of guilt in her voice.

There was a beat of awkward silence, and Hope decided that it was time to make her escape. She gave an exaggerated wince, leaning down to clutch at her ankle. 

“Are you okay?” Josie asked, and maybe Hope was imagining it but there was slightly less animosity in her voice than before. 

“Uh-huh,” Hope said, even as she clutched at her ankle and forced her face into a pained expression. 

Josie stood, holding out a hand to help Hope to her feet. Hope took it, and then winced again as she lifted her ankle off of the ground. “Yeah,” she said, grimacing at Josie. “I think it’s just twisted.”

She couldn’t ignore the fact that Josie’s hand was still on her arm, and it was making it difficult to concentrate on what she was saying.

“Well,” Josie said, even though something in her tone told Hope she didn’t entirely believe the whole sprained-ankle story. “There’s a nurses office in the school. First floor, I can show you if you want—“

“I’m sure I can find it,” Hope told her, because as tempting as the offer was, being alone in the Salvatore School was exactly what she needed right now. “Thank you.” 

The smile Josie gave her was more of a grimace than anything, but Hope ignored it as she fake-limped back to the sidelines.

She could deal with Josie later if she had to. Right now, she needed to find Rafael. 

° ° °

As Josie watched the girl limp towards the sidelines and off of the field, Landon appeared at her side. “Hey—“

“What was that?” She yelled, any thought of trying to be patient with him forgotten. “I told you to blitz her, Landon, not to freeze and stand in the middle of the field!”

Landon turned to her, looking as confused and pissed-off as she felt. “What has gotten into you? It’s a pickup game, Josie, it’s supposed to be fun. Ever since that girl showed up—“

“This has nothing to do with her,” Josie snapped, glaring at him.

“Really? Because apparently she _hit_ on you last night, and you just tackled her into the dirt. You _hurt_ her—“

“No, I didn’t,” Josie scoffed, rolling her eyes. Was he being serious? “She’s fine, she was clearly faking it.”

“Do you hear yourself right now?” Landon said, raising his eyebrows in disbelief. “She’s five feet tall and can’t throw a football any better than I can, why would she even want to fake something like that?”

“Why do you care?” Josie demanded, halting their slow walk back up the field. “Is it because I said she hit on me? Because I don’t even think—“

“It’s not that, Josie,” Landon said, and he sounded almost disappointed in her. “I’m just being a decent human being.”

“Well,” she reminded him, the irritation she’d been burying all day seeping into her voice. “You’re not a human, you’re a Pheonix. So start acting like one.”

Landon frowned at her, opening his mouth to respond, but Josie interrupted him before he could speak. “Plus,” she told him, her voice leveling. “There’s something off about her, okay? I don’t know what, but there’s _something_.”

She was being serious, but Landon wasn’t listening. “Yeah, she’s not the only one.”

He shoved past her, and Josie waited for her anger to dull, but it didn’t.

She was right, she knew she was.

There was something off about that girl. Now, she just had to prove it.

° ° °

When Josie entered the gym, she was greeted by a scene that looked more like a victory celebration than a half-time break.

“Now, we can take it easy,” Kaleb said as he grabbed a blood bag from the snack table. “This game is done and dusted.”

Josie frowned. “No, it’s not. We need to score more.” 

“We’re up 35-7, Jo,” Kaleb said, sipping from his blood bag. “Ain’t no reason to rub it in.“

Seriously? _Kaleb_ of all people was telling her to stop being so competitive? Where the hell was the guy who’d almost torn Connor’s arm off last year?

“I mean,” he continued. “It sounded cool and all sticking it to the townies, but now it feels wrong. I don’t think we need to use our powers in the second-half.”

“What?” Josie snapped, fighting to ignore the itch of her magic beneath her skin. “Why not?”

Kaleb sighed and shook his head. “Because, your dad was right about the way the game should be played. He was right about a lot of things. But you already know how I feel about that subject.”

Oh, no. Kaleb did not get to throw _that_ in her face, not now. 

“So, I’m guessing you don’t want to play quarterback then?” She asked, pretending that his jibe hadn’t bothered her. 

Kaleb shook his head, taking another long draw from his blood bag. 

Josie scanned the room for another candidate, ignoring the reproachful look Landon sent her way from his place leaning against the bleachers. He could be mad at her all he wanted, but she needed a quarterback she could count on to win this game.

“Someone needs to step up,” she shouted, her voice echoing in the following silence. “If we’re not going to use our powers, we need the old magic back.”

Josie stared directly at Lizzie, waiting for her to catch on, but her head remained buried in that stupid book of hers. Seriously, the _one_ time she wanted her sister to be the center of attention, she decided to sideline herself. Go figure. 

When she realized everyone was looking at her, Lizzie raised her head. “Pass,” she said, the amount of disinterest in her tone infuriating. 

Josie glared at Lizzie, trying to decide whether shouting or pleading would get her further in this situation. She wasn’t given the chance to do either, though, as Professor Vardemus chose that moment to enter the gym. 

“Enough pleasure!” He shouted, gesturing wildly with his umbrella. “Get back out there and showcase your superiority!”

Josie shot Kaleb an _I told you so_ look over her shoulder, but it vanished when she saw her dad entering the gym.

“Dad!” She called, unable to hide her surprise as she moved to stand beside Lizzie at the door. “What are you—“

“Hi, girls,” he said, though she noticed that his attention never left Professor Vardemus. “I just need a moment with your headmaster.”

MG paused in the doorway, and Josie struggled to keep her smile from faltering, ignoring the questioning look that Lizzie gave her. 

But as her dad headed towards Professor Vardemus, Josie realized that no matter how much it hurt, she couldn’t bring herself to regret her choice. 

Even if everyone hated her for it.

° ° °

Somehow, through a combination of flattery, begging, and pestering, MG managed to convince Lizzie to be their quarterback for the second half. 

Which was a good thing, because Josie couldn’t find Landon anywhere. He‘d never returned to the field after halftime. Josie allowed it to bother her for a moment, and then told herself to forget about it. She needed to be focused, not distracted by infuriating, pissed-off boyfriends. 

“Okay, since you guys can’t seem to stop Captain America or not fumble a kick-off, our lead is bleeding like stuck-pig,” Lizzie said as she entered the huddle. “But fear not, I’m super absorbent.”

Josie had to admit, her sister’s ability to compliment herself and insult others in the same sentence was impressive. 

“Wow,” said Kaleb, looking equally disturbed and confused. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It means we’re gonna play action,” Lizzie told him, and Josie felt a prick of envy at the ease at which she slipped back into the role of quarterback. “All nines, bootleg left, center deep-cross... make that a bootleg right, that’s my good side.”

As she rattled off plays, Lizzie looked over her shoulder and waved at the... trees? The expression on her face couldn’t be described as anything but flirtatious, and Josie scanned the treeline for a cute boy or something, but... nothing. Maybe she’d imagined it?

“Whatever,” Kaleb said, though even he seemed to be unable to find a flaw in Lizzie’s game plan. “As long as we’re playing it straight.”

“Of course,” Lizzie said, tearing her attention away from whatever had distracted her in the woods as she gestured for everyone to put their hands in the center of the circle. 

They broke the huddle, and Josie went to take her position, but not before Lizzie grabbed her arm and said, “Just try and hold onto the ball this time.”

Josie gritted her teeth and chose not to acknowledge her as the referee blew the whistle, signaling the start of the game.

As Josie crouched low and picked up the ball, Maya gave her a haughty look, and Josie almost growled at the cocky tilt of her head. 

“Ready! Set! Hut!” Lizzie shouted from behind her, and Josie buried the urge to burn Maya’s curls off of her head as she threw the ball to her sister. 

Lizzie caught it, faked a pass to Kaleb with a disillusionment charm, and then turned to throw the ball down the field. 

It spiraled through the air, and Josie caught it, grinning as she ran towards the end zone, the cheers from the sidelines echoing in her ears. 

But then, before she could react, the ball was pulled from her grasp, and when Josie whirled around she saw the boy Lizzie had dubbed as Captain America run the stolen ball into the end zone. 

“Josie!” Lizzie screamed from the other end of the field, throwing her hands up in   
frustration. “What did I _just_ tell you!?”

“What, you think I did that on purpose? I’m trying to bury these guys too,” Josie shouted back as she felt the anger rising again, burning in her chest. Why had she ever thought Lizzie being quarterback would be a good idea?

Lizzie glared at her, no doubt preparing to yell at Josie, but then her gaze drifted to the tree line. “Whatever,” she scoffed. “None of this matters.”

“Lizzie? Where are you _going_?” Josie screamed as her sister ran off of the field and into the woods. 

“I’m on it,” MG said as he appeared at her side, ignoring Josie’s protests as he followed Lizzie into the trees and disappeared.

And just like that, Josie was left standing alone.

° ° °

As Hope opened the front door of the Salvatore School and stepped inside, she couldn’t ignore the overwhelming wave of emotions and memories that it triggered.

The school itself was quiet for a change with everyone at the game, bathed in golden afternoon sunlight, and she allowed herself a single moment to appreciate how beautiful it was, even as she forbid herself from thinking the one dangerous word that immediately came to mind.

_Home._

Even as she trailed her fingertips along the edge of a bookcase, as she relished in the familiar rhythm of the floorboards creaking beneath her feet... she couldn’t allow herself to think like that. It was only going to hurt more when she inevitably left this place behind again.

Hope had a singular goal: find something of Rafael’s, and use it to perform a locator spell. 

That goal, however, faded from her mind when she climbed the stairs to the second floor and passed a door with the number twenty-three on it. 

_No, Hope. Bad idea. You can’t just—_

Hope opened the door and peeked inside, drinking in the familiar sight of the two beds side by side, of the potted herbs hanging in the sunlit windowsill and the pictures decorating the walls.

She’d never told Josie this, but she’d always liked her room better than her own. Hope’s room was solitary, an escape from the outside world, it wasn’t a place she felt comfortable inviting people into. But this... it felt like a sanctuary, a place where people were welcomed, cared for.

Or maybe that was just because it was Josie’s.

Against her better judgment, Hope stepped inside.

 _One minute,_ she told herself. _You get one minute._

She took more than a minute. She ran her hands along Josie’s comforter, strummed the strings on her ukulele, found a sweatshirt she must have slept in the night before and just stood there, breathing in Josie’s scent.

_This is weird, Hope. If someone saw this, they’d think you were some creepy stalker._

“Stop,” she told herself, dropping the sweatshirt as if she’d been burned, flinching as she stepped away from the bed. “Stop, stop, stop.”

_What the hell was she doing?_

This was the opposite of moving on. She was here for a reason, and it was time to stop stalling. 

Still, as Hope refolded the sweatshirt and left Josie’s dorm, she couldn’t help but feel as if she was shutting the door on something more than an empty room. Something important 

Something unfinished. 

° ° °

Josie didn’t tend to base her self-worth off of a sports games, but _this_... this was humiliating. 

“We need to do something,” Professor Vardemus said, staring at the field as if it had personally disappointed him. “This is embarrassing. Why have you stopped using your magic?”

“Because Kaleb said—“ Josie sighed, shaking her head as she scanned the field for something, _anything_ , to get them out of this. “Because my dad said that—“

“Your father is no longer your headmaster,” Vardemus reminded her, obviously disappointed in her, the expression on his face one he usually reserved for unstraightened bow-ties and specks of dust on his desk. “I am, and unlike him I’ve never broken your trust. So, perhaps you ought to take what I say with the same consideration.”

Josie wanted to argue that her dad had never broken her trust, that he would never intentionally hurt her, but...

“What do you want me to do?”

° ° °

As Josie stepped onto the field, she couldn’t help but feel... powerful. As if the piece of paper in her pocket held a valuable secret, one only she could be trusted with.

The referee blew the whistle, and the Timberwolves handed the ball off to their quarterback, the boy who’d stolen the ball from her earlier. Ethan. He was the reason they were losing, the leader behind the Timberwolves comeback.

Ethan dodged Kaleb with ease, lifting his arm to throw the ball to his sister, who was screaming at him from the other end of the field. 

But Josie was ready.

She darted forward, siphoning from one of the vamps at her side, and focused all of her attention on Ethan as she repeated the incantation she’d memorized from the paper Vardemus had given her. 

She waited for the boy to trip, or faint, or stumble.. but that wasn’t what happened.

His arm, raised to throw the ball, twisted, the outline of bone appearing beneath his skin. There was a sickening _snap_ , and then Ethan screamed.

He fell to his knees, clutching at his arm, howling in pain, and the cheers in the stands turned to screams. 

Josie saw her dad and the town sheriff rush to his side, she heard his sister scream, felt the unease that spread through the crowd, but it was as if she was drowning beneath the surface of a lake. Everything echoed, her senses dulled.

Then, her dad lifted his head, one hand still on Ethan’s shoulder as he screamed for a medic, and looked right at her. 

_He knew what she’d done._

Josie didn’t think. She just ran. 

° ° °

It took her a few wrongs turns, but Hope finally managed to locate Landon and Rafael’s room.

She opened the door and peeked inside to ensure it was empty, making her way over to the pile of cardboard boxes labeled _Raf_. Landon must have packed up his things when he’d realized Rafael wouldn’t be returning to the school in time for the start of term. 

She dug through the boxes until she found a denim button-up, along with a change of clothes for Rafael after he’d turned back, stuffing them into the duffel bag Alaric had given her. 

When she was done, she sat on the floor, Rafael’s shirt in hand, and pulled a map of the school grounds from her bag. Hope did a quick scan of her surroundings, straining her ears to hear if anyone was coming up the stairs, before unfolding the map and setting in on the floor at her feet. 

She pricked the tip of her finger with a pocketknife, lifting it into the air so that her blood dripped onto the paper, and opened her mouth to speak the spell when—

“What the hell are you doing in here?”

 _Shit._ Now this, _this_ was bad. 

Josie was standing in the doorway, glaring at Hope and the blood-dotted paper at her feet, and she almost flinched at the contempt and loathing in her gaze. 

“Why are you in my boyfriend’s room?” Josie demanded, and Hope realized she needed to say something before Josie started hexing her.

_Think, Hope, there has to be a logical explanation for this._

“Uh,” she said, scrambling to her feet and clutching her bleeding hand to her chest. “Look, I know that this looks bad.”

Well, that much was obvious. Closed door. Stolen clothing. Map of the schools grounds with her blood on it. Who was she kidding? Josie wasn’t stupid, she was going to figure out that Hope wasn’t a normal teenage girl. If she hadn’t already.

“Really?” Josie said, her voice dripping with snark. “What gave you that idea? The whole creeping into my boyfriend’s room and stealing his clothes thing, or the map with your blood on it? Because I’m starting to think you’re not just some ordinary girl.”

Hope sighed, her smile exasperated as she looked at Josie. “You really are too smart for your own good, aren’t you?”

She’d meant it as a joke, a compliment even, but Josie tensed, a slice of fear in her eyes. She hesitated, her gaze flicking towards the open door. “I’m going to go get my dad.”

Before Hope could clarify that she hadn’t meant it as a threat, Josie turned and made a break for the door. Hope fired off a series of curse words in her head, angry at herself for not being more careful, for letting the situation get so out of hand.

But she couldn’t let Josie leave, because then Alaric would tell her everything, and she would _know_. 

“ _Corporis impetus!”_ She yelled, clenching her hand into a fist as she cast the spell. 

Josie stopped moving, frozen mid-step, and Hope felt her fear spike. “You’re a witch,” she said, the term a clear accusation. 

“Look, my name is Hope,” she told Josie, unable to stop her hand from trembling at the confession. “And yes, I’m a witch. I’m working with your dad, he asked me to do a locator spell to find Rafael.”

Josie muttered the counter-spell to Hope’s own, unfreezing herself, and turned to face her. If she didn’t know Josie, the look on her face would have been downright terrifying. “Why didn’t he ask me? I’m his daughter.”

“Because, you don’t know about the Crescent wolf clan. Not like I do,” Hope said, unable to stop herself from smirking when Josie didn’t immediately conjure another counter-argument.

“Look,” she said, sighing as she realized she wasn’t going to convince Josie to let her leave if she didn’t tell her the truth. Or, at least her version of it. “There is a monster in the woods and it feeds on werewolves. Rafael’s in danger, I have to find him before it does.”

“Okay,” Josie said, nodding as the anger momentarily left her voice. Hope was relieved, until she realized Josie wasn’t done. 

“Then I’m coming with you.”

_Oh, no. Not happening._

“Sorry,” she told her, her tone making it clear this wasn’t a debate. “But I fly solo.”

“Not today you don’t,” Josie snapped, her gaze hard and unrelenting. “Rafael’s my friend, and you’re insane if you think I’m going to leave his life in your hands.”

Another painful reminder that Josie didn’t trust her, not anymore. Still, this _wasn’t_ happening. She wouldn’t allow Josie to put herself in danger, and she couldn’t focus on finding Rafael if she was worried about protecting her.

“You do realize I could freeze you again, right?”   
  
Josie smirked, crossing her arms and cocking her head. “Well, then I’ll just _unfreeze_ myself.”

Hope opened her mouth to argue with that, but no words came out. Josie smirked when she realized that she’d won.

“So, _Hope_ ,” she said, and Hope shivered at the sound of her name on her lips. “Let’s get monster hunting.”

° ° °

Hope was trying very, very hard to remain calm, but it was rather difficult considering the fact that she was walking through the woods, hunting for a werewolf-eating monster with her ex-girlfriend, who didn’t even remember that she or their relationship had ever existed. 

Instead of thinking about _that_ , she focused on the map in her hands, following the line of blood that had led them from the school to this spot in the woods. 

“Raf should be up ahead,” she told Josie, who had been unnervingly quiet since they’d left the school.

“Great,” Josie said, but the lack of emotion in her voice told Hope it was, in fact, not great.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, because after a decade of knowing Josie, she knew what her silence meant, recognized the nervous energy behind her irritation and aggression. Something was bothering her.

“What?” Josie said, a vacant expression on her face, as if she was somewhere else entirely. “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

A guarded response, but she hadn’t expected anything less. 

“Meaning something,” Hope countered, smirking when Josie bit her lip in response. She always did that when she was hiding something. 

“You can tell me, you know,” Hope told her, her voice quieter than before when she’d been teasing. “You being distracted by whatever this is won’t help us find Rafael.”

It was a dirty trick, but Josie made it almost too easy. 

She sighed, refusing to meet Hope’s gaze. “After you left the game I... I hurt someone. And I want to believe that it was an accident, but... I think a part of me wanted to do it, _enjoyed_ it even.” 

Hope frowned, the tormented expression on Josie’s face triggering a not-so buried instinct to comfort her. “Look,” she said, and Josie met her gaze as Hope smiled at her. “I know that we just met, but you don’t seem like someone who enjoys seeing other people in pain. And I know how overwhelming magic can be, how it can take control, trust me.” 

“Especially,” she finished. “When someone you trust uses it to manipulate you.”

Josie immediately went back to refusing to meet her gaze, and she shifted uncomfortably at the mention of Professor Vardemus, but she did seem to relax ever so slightly, and Hope considered it a win.

“Well,” Hope said, breaking the sudden tension between them. “Rafael should be—“

She was interrupted by a shrieking cry, a sound that triggered thoughts of pain and anguish. It had sounded human, but... 

Hope turned, scanning the trees for whatever had made the noise, but before she could determine whether it was a threat or not, Josie shoved past her and started running towards it.

“Josie!” Hope yelled, sprinting after her as she felt that instinctual panic take hold of her, the wolf in her screaming the word _protect, protect, protect._ “Josie, wait, stay back! You don’t know what’s out there!” 

What was she _thinking_? 

_Help,_ screamed the anguished, distant voice. _Somebody help!_

Rafael. It could be him, it certainly _sounded_ like it, which was undoubtedly why Josie had forgone all sense and followed it without waiting for her. And yet...

Hope reached the break in the trees that Josie had disappeared through, her heart racing and panic hot in her veins.   
  
And what she saw was definitely _not_ Rafael. 

The Shunka was exactly as Dorian had described, except _bigger_. It’s massive, hulking form was a disturbing cross between a man and a wolf, and it was easily ten feet tall with a thick, leathery hide and sharp claws. It’s teeth were bared and dripping with saliva, it’s beady eyes glowing red, and when Hope stepped into the clearing it’s roar shook the ground beneath her. 

“Okay,” Josie gasped from her place beside Hope, and there was genuine fear in her eyes as she stared at the creature. “So, not Rafael.”

The monster roared again, and Josie flinched, but a moment later she’d recovered, moving forward as if to attack it. Hope grabbed her arm and _pulled_ , shoving Josie behind her. 

“I told you to stay back,” she growled at her, and before Josie could argue, Hope moved. 

_“Incendia!”_

The spell conjured a wave of fire, and the Shunka shrieked in pain as it was consumed by the blaze.

“Go! Now!” Hope screamed at Josie, glaring at her to tell her not to argue. 

But Josie didn’t move, gesturing at the Shunka, which was still yowling and cowering at the other end of the clearing. It was going to recover from Hope’s attack, though, and soon. Which was why Josie needed to _leave_. 

“I can’t just leave!” Josie said, as if it was obvious. “We need a _plan_!”

“I have one,” Hope told her, followed by a pointed look that said _and you’re not part of it._

Josie crossed her arms and set her feet firmly in the dirt, glaring at her, and in any other situation her standing her ground might have been adorable. Right now, however, it just managed to piss Hope off. 

“Fine,” she snarled, one eye on the Shunka as it regained it’s footing. “Turn around.”

“Why?” Josie demanded, scowling at her, as if Hope was wasting their time. 

“Because, Plan B involves me getting naked.”

“ _What?_ ” 

Hope was pleased to see that her explanation had the desired effect, as Josie turned around so fast that her ponytail hit her in the face. 

“I have to draw it away from you,” she told her, tugging her jersey over her head and throwing Alaric’s duffel bag to the ground.

“And _why_ does that require you getting naked?”

“Because this monster feeds on werewolves,” she explained, her shorts and sports bra joining her jersey on the forest floor. She had to admit, she was _not_ sorry to leave that uniform behind. 

“But you said you were a witch,”Josie said, accusation in every syllable. 

Then, Josie was silent for a moment before she snarled, “A _lying_ witch.” 

“Look,” Hope snapped, balancing her need to get Josie away from the Shunka against her inherent desire to tell her everything. “I am more than that, and I wish more than anything that I could stay and tell you all about it, but I _can’t_. So, when I draw this thing away from you, I need you to go find your Dad and Raf, okay?”

“What about you?” Josie asked, and even Hope couldn’t pretend away the note of concern in her voice.

“It’s going to chase me, but I’ll be fine,” she told her, even though she wasn’t _entirely_ sure if that was true.

“Why would it chase after you, you’re not a—“

But Josie’s voice faded into the background, overridden by the intoxicating medley of the enhanced sounds and smells of the forest, as Hope gave in to the constant itch to turn that lied beneath her skin and shifted.

She’d forgotten how amazing this felt, the exhilarating rush of endorphins that came with the shift. 

Even as the Shunka turned it’s attention to her, thoroughly pissed off and it’s singed flesh still smoking from her attack, Hope relished in the thrill of being in her wolf form. The forest floor was a steady, familiar presence beneath her, each of the smells her sensitive nose identified a welcome invasion of her senses, even if one of them was the horrid stench of the Shunka. 

She could sense Josie’s shock, but she couldn’t bring herself to face her. The pull of the woods was overpowering, and she could resist it if she wanted to, but she _didn’t_ want to. 

So, Hope let loose a howl that had been building in her lungs, and allowed that instinctual, animalistic part of her to take control as she disappeared into the trees, not waiting to see if the Shunka followed. 

If she’d waited a moment longer, if she hadn’t been so overwhelmed by the return to her wolf form, she might have stayed long enough to hear Josie scream. 

° ° °

“Josie!”

Hope was an idiot.

She had assumed that the Shunka would follow it’s primary instincts and chase her, ignoring Josie altogether. She’d been wrong. 

And now, Josie was missing, and she could only blame herself. 

_Stupid, stupid, stupid._

She should have protected her, should have made sure that the Shunka was following her before she ran off. And now, if Josie was hurt...

It would be entirely her fault. She had allowed Josie to come with her, even though she’d known it was a risk. Hell, she was the reason the monsters had returned at all. 

“Josie!” She tried again, but her screams just echoed into the air, startling birds from the trees and leaving silence in their wake. 

She had already returned to where she’d left her uniform and the duffel bag, hoping that there would be a hint to where the Shunka had taken Josie, but she’d failed to find anything. 

_Your fault, your fault, your fault._

Hope screamed Josie’s name again and again and again, but there was no response. 

In the back of her mind, the part of her that was ruled by logic and reason, there was the distant thought of returning to the school and finding Alaric. Her skin was covered in dirt and mud, her feet bare and aching from however long she’d been walking through the woods looking for Josie, and she was naked beneath the button-down of Rafael’s she’d hastily dressed herself in. Her voice was hoarse from yelling, dry and parched to the point of pain. She was in dire need of a shower, and yet she didn’t care, every part of her focused on finding Josie.

“Look, I’m sorry, I would have never left you, I didn’t know that it wanted you,” she said, her voice more of a whimper than a shout. Even if only the trees could hear her, she couldn’t stop herself from saying it. 

Hope ran a shaking hand through her hair, which had escaped the braids Maya had done for her and was now framing her face in loose waves. 

_What the hell was she going to do?_

Then, she heard a twig snap behind her, followed by a growl. 

Hope whirled, half-expecting to be greeted by the hulking form of the Shunka, but instead it was...

“Raf?”

It had been ages since that night in the church when she’d first seen Rafael turn, and yet there was no doubt in her mind that it was him. Even without the fact that he was the only wolf capable of turning without a full moon besides her, he looked the same. His coat was a deep, silky black, his yellow eyes glowing as he bared his teeth and stalked towards her. 

“Hey, look, I know you don’t remember me, but this is all my fault,” Hope told him, unable to ignore the warmth that filled her chest at the sight of him, even as guilt sunk it’s talons in alongside it. 

He’d been like this for months. Because of _her_.

Hope started to apologize, even though she wasn’t sure if he could even understand her. “I would have never let any of this happen to you, or to Josie, god—“

Rafael turned towards the trees, but Hope called after him. “Wait, Raf, wait please don’t go, okay?”

“I can help you,” she told him, pouring all of the panic and fear and anxiety she was feeling into those words, hoping to reach the part of him that was still human. “I need you.”

It was like those were the magic words. Rafael turned to look at her, something like understanding in the wolf’s yellow-gaze, and a plan began to form in Hope’s mind.

“Josie needs you.”

° ° °

Josie was being dragged across the forest floor by the Shunka, writhing and twisting as she tried to free herself from it’s grip, when she heard it. 

A howl. 

The Shunka released her, rising to stand on its hind legs and sniffing the air, saliva dripping from its teeth as if it could already taste the flesh of the nearby wolf.

A wolf that appeared a moment later, it’s white coat stark against the trees, growling as it charged at the Shunka and lunged, it’s claws sinking into the creature’s thick hide. 

_Hope_.

She had latched onto the creature’s back, digging her claws in as the Shunka roared and thrashed, desperate to fling her off. 

For a single moment, all she could think of was that Hope looked so _small_ compared to the Shunka, that it would only take a single blow from the creature’s claws or a well-aimed bite from it’s razor sharp teeth to snap her spine or break her neck. 

The monster roared, and then the wolf, no _Hope_ , yelped in pain as she was thrown to the forest floor. Josie heard her whimper, struggling to rise again after her fall, but before she could move the Shunka lifted her limp form into the air again with a single paw.

Josie flinched, the fear that had kept her frozen on the ground vanishing at the sight of Hope lying defenseless and alone on the ground. She dug through the leaves covering the forest floor, grappling for anything she could use to kill the monster. 

Hope had begun to stir, but the Shunka had already raised it’s paw, preparing to strike again. 

Josie screamed, but before the creature could land it’s next blow, an arrow shot through the air and pierced it through the shoulder. 

The Shunka screeched in pain, releasing Hope, and Josie breathed a sigh of relief when the wolf sprung to her feet and limped away from the monster. 

And that was when Josie saw the person who had shot the arrow. 

It was Rafael. In his human form, standing on the other side of the clearing, crossbow in hand.

Josie scrambled to her feet, torn between checking on Hope or going to Raf, but the Shunka had other plans. 

It was still screeching in pain, wavering on it’s feet, it’s red eyes wild with rage and hunger as it tried to pry the arrow from it’s shoulder. 

“Josie, run—“

But Josie was tired of running. She charged forward, dodging the poorly-aimed swipe the Shunka sent her way, and ripped the arrow from it’s shoulder. Then, not giving the creature a chance to realize she’d freed it from it’s burden, she rammed that same arrow right into its throat. 

Blood spurted from the wound, splattering across Josie’s face and chest, and the creature groaned as it fell to the forest floor with a resounding thump.

Behind her, she heard Rafael lower the crossbow and move to her side. “Damn, Jo, that was—“

Josie didn’t give him a chance to finish, turning and launching herself into Rafael’s arms in a hug that would have crushed the bones of anyone who wasn’t supernatural. Rafael was still for a moment, and Josie lifted her head from his chest to make sure this was okay, but then his arms wrapped around her and he pulled her into his chest. 

“Raf! We thought you were gone,” she said into the fabric of his sweatshirt, the relief crashing over her in waves. “Landon, oh god, he’s going to be so happy when he—“

“Josie!” Rafael said, interrupting whatever she had been saying about Landon as he pulled away from her and asked, “Who was that girl?”

Josie turned around, but the clearing was empty.

Hope was gone. 

° ° °

“Dad!” Josie screamed, running along the dirt path that led to the school gates, ignoring the dull ache in her ankle from where the Shunka had dragged her through the woods. 

Until she’d returned to the school with Rafael, Josie had forgotten that her dad wouldn’t be there to meet her. 

In the past few hours, she had been so consumed with Hope and the Shunka and finding Rafael that she’d almost forgotten about the spell she’d done at the game. 

_Almost_ , being the key word. Her dad’s damning stare was burned into her memory, along with Ethan’s screams. 

There had been a brawl after the game, and according to Kaleb when he’d pulled her aside during Landon and Rafael’s emotional reunion, her dad had thrown the first punch. 

And it was all Josie’s fault.

She needed to explain, to apologize, but when she reached the school gates they’d already closed, and the school bus was gone. 

That was when she felt it. 

A hollow echoing in her ears, as if her brain was pounding against her skull, and then there was a strange pressure at her temple.

Josie lifted a hand to her nose, and when she pulled it away, her fingers were stained with blood. And it was black. 

° ° °

The thing about being alone, Hope had realized, was that it could never last. At some point, everyone needed to reach out and find comfort. 

At first, people tended to seek out what they knew, what was familiar. The people, the places, how everything used to be.

But things changed, and no matter what you did, no matter what _she_ did, it was never going to be the same.

So, the question becomes: where do you go? What do you do? 

For Hope, apparently, the answer to that first question was the Mystic Falls hospital.

She’d been sitting on a park bench outside, her journal blank and open in her lap, when she heard a voice call her name. 

“Hope?”

It was Maya. She was still wearing her uniform from the game, along with what looked like one of Ethan’s sweatshirts. 

“Hey,” Hope said, setting her journal on the bench as she rose to her feet. 

“What are you doing here?” Maya asked, the question edged with a sob. 

“I just—“ Hope faltered, suddenly realizing that she might have overstepped in coming here. “I just wanted to see how you and Ethan were doing after the game.”

And after her ex-girlfriend had broken his arm with a black-magic spell. 

Maya had wound her hands into the sleeves of her sweatshirt, tears collecting in her eyes. “He worked so hard for that scholarship. And now it’s over.”

She was trembling as she choked out the words, and Hope reached for her, pulling Maya into her arms. Maya didn’t protest, burying her head into Hope’s shoulder as she sobbed, her tears soaking the sleeve of her own-jean jacket. 

Maybe it didn’t matter where you went, as long as you went somewhere.

° ° °

Josie was sitting in the foyer, perched on a wooden step by the fireplace, when Landon appeared. 

“Hey,” she said when he sat down beside her. “How’s Raf?”

Josie had hoped the question would ease the awkwardness between them, but then she saw the expression on Landon’s face. 

“Adjusting,” he said after a moment, not meeting her gaze. 

The empty look in his eyes tugged at something in her chest, and Josie edged closer to him, relaxing as he wrapped an arm around her. 

“That’s more than I can say,” she said, sighing as she laid her head on his shoulder. “I don’t know why I’m acting like this. I feel like, I don’t know, something inside me is just... off.”

“I think we both had a day,” he said, rubbing soothing circles into the skin at her wrist. “Wanna go first, or should I?”

Josie felt anxiety coiling in a pit in her stomach, but she knew that she owed Landon the truth. 

“After you left the game, I did something... horrible,” she told him, tightening her grip on his hand, her voice cracking as she lifted her head and met Landon’s concerned gaze. “I hurt someone. I think I wanted to.”

Landon didn’t say anything at first, reaching down to interlock their fingers. “Whatever you did, it wouldn’t have happened if I had just listened to you.”

Josie wanted to argue, to tell him that it wasn’t his fault, but after the day she’d had she found herself too exhausted to do either.

But there was still one more thing she needed to tell him.

“Landon,” she said, lifting her head from his shoulder. “I think I was right about Hope.”

At his confused look, she said, “The girl from the football game. She’s definitely not who she says she is.”

“Who is she?” Landon asked, frowning at her.

“I don’t know,” Josie told him. “But I was hoping you could help me figure it out.” 


	4. for the voice that can’t be heard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You mean how you and that girl from the Salvatore School couldn’t stop staring at each other?”
> 
> Hope jerked her head up, meeting Maya’s amused gaze. “You saw that?”
> 
> “Oh, trust me, it was obvious,” Maya said, smirking at Hope’s obvious discomfort. “You really have to work on your game, Marshall.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m honestly shocked that i managed to update this so fast, don’t get used to it lol. i hope everyone who commented before enjoys the hope/maya interaction in this chapter! there’s more to come don’t worry. pls leave comments/kudos if you enjoy :)

When Hope heard herself being summoned to Alaric’s office via the P.A. system, there was a moment where she thought she was hallucinating. 

But no, it was just the next step of her descent into the hell that was high school. 

“P.A. system?” She said as she walked through the door. “That’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?”

“Not as dramatic as the message Josie left me saying she had something urgent to discuss,” Alaric said, moving to sit behind the desk. “Anything you wanna share?”

Hope sighed, sliding into the chair across from him. “Only that the monster’s are officially back, and before you ask, I still have no idea why. I thought it was because of me, but...”

“And you didn’t think that was something I should know?” Alaric asked, interrupting her with a glare.

“More like I was afraid of what you were going to say after that,” Hope admitted, unable to hide her grimace.

“Hope,” Alaric began, his exasperation obvious, and Hope braced herself. “You need to go back to the Salvatore School.”

“That was it,” she said, sighing as she rolled her eyes at him. 

“Not for your sake,” Alaric said before she could argue. “For theirs. Now, we might not know why the monsters are back, but we _do_ know that Malivore needs Landon. I know he might not be that important to you, but if Malivore wants him we need to want him more.”

“Look, I will take care of it,” Hope promised him. “But from a distance.”

“Okay, what am I missing here, Hope?” Alaric demanded, obviously frustrated and confused by her constantly resisting his attempts to convince her to return to the Salvatore School. “You told me the truth, and everything worked out fine.”

_You can’t avoid it forever, Hope. Tell him._

“Not the whole truth,” she confessed, refusing to meet Alaric’s expectant gaze. 

_Spit it out, Hope._

“Josie and I...” she hesitated, unsure if she would be able to get the words out past the sudden tightness in her throat. “We were in love.”

Once she started, she found it hard to stop, even once she saw the surprise on Alaric’s face. “Like real love,” she said, warmth automatically seeping into her voice as she thought of Josie. “Epic love, if that even exists.”

_And have at least one totally epic love._

Hope forced herself not to linger on the memory of her mom’s last words to her, determined not to cry in front of Alaric. 

“I can assure you, it does,” Alaric said, and Hope knew he was thinking of Jo when she saw the anguish on his face. 

“Now she’s with Landon,” Hope told him, relieved to see the pain fade from Alaric’s gaze as she continued . “And they don’t know what we were to each other. And I’m just afraid that if I tell them, she’s gonna hate me forever. Or he’s gonna hate me. Or I’m gonna hate _myself_ because I made us all miserable, so I can’t tell her. Not yet.”

And there it was. The real reason she was so afraid to tell Josie the truth. Because she couldn’t bear the thought of Josie hating her, or the chance that she might be the cause of her unhappiness. 

It was better this way. 

Alaric looked as if he wanted to argue, but he was prevented from doing so by a knock on the door.

“Sorry to interrupt,” said the sheriff as she entered the office, the briefcase she held clearly meaning business. 

“No, it’s okay, I was just leaving,” Hope told her, rising from her chair and moving towards the door.

“I will see _you_ at the pep rally,” she said to Alaric, pretending not to see the look on his face that said _this isn’t over._

“See you there. I hope you consider the transfer. I could put in a good word for you at the Salvatore School,” he said as she walked away, confirming her suspicions. 

Hope ignored that too, but she didn’t miss the inquisitive look Sheriff Mac sent her way.

“I hope you’ll join us for breakfast again soon, Hope,” she said, and Hope was immediately grateful that her back was turned so that neither of them could see her cringe. “I know how much Maya enjoyed your company.”

“Thanks,” Hope called over her shoulder, painfully aware of the fact that her cheeks were burning. She could feel Alaric staring at her, no doubt wondering what the hell that was about, but she didn’t stop to explain. 

God, she _really_ hated small towns. 

° ° °

Josie loved being a witch, she did, but there were also times where she really, really hated it.

Like right now, as she was desperately trying to hide the rash that had appeared on her shoulder that morning, a consequence of the black magic spell she’d used against Ethan at the game yesterday. 

She’d thought the black blood dripping from her nose was bad, but the rash was worse. It burned and itched, and had left her skin red and blistering. Not to mention that it was visible evidence of what she’d done.

The image of Ethan screaming as he fell to the ground, knees buckling as bone ripped through flesh, was burned into her memory. The shouts of the people in the stands, her dad’s horrified expression... she couldn’t escape it even if she wanted to, if the guilt wasn’t eating her alive already. 

Josie‘s head was buried in a grimoire when she heard a knock on the door. She immediately pulled the sleeve of her blouse over the rash on her arm.

“I’m not feeling well, sorry,” she said, hoping it would be enough to convince whoever was at her door to leave her alone.

“I’m sorry to hear you’re unwell,” the person said, in a distinctly _British_ accent. Professor Vardemus. 

What did _he_ want? 

Josie stood, giving the sleeve of her blouse another firm tug, and moved to open the door. 

Professor Vardemus was standing in the hall, as put-together as ever, and his gaze was almost expectant when he saw her. As if _she_ was the one who had sought him out. 

“You shouldn’t be surprised,” she said, hoping that he heard it for what it was. An accusation. 

He didn’t respond, in fact he didn’t say anything at all as he stepped past her and into her room. Josie almost told him to get out, but instead she just shut the door behind him. Maybe this conversation would be better to have in private. 

“You gave me that black magic spell, and because of it I broke that kid’s arm,” she told him, though she knew he didn’t need her to explain what he’d done. “And mine’s not doing so hot either.”

She rolled up the sleeve of her blouse, exposing the rash at her shoulder. Vardemus leaned forward, studying the patch of inflamed skin, though it might as well have been a papercut for all that it seemed to phase him.

“What did your father have to say about this?” He asked, and Josie faltered. _That’s_ what he wanted to know?

“I haven’t had the chance to ask him yet,” she admitted, hating how she felt like she needed to defend herself. 

“That’s understandable,” he told her with a smile, almost as if he was pleased with her for not telling her dad about her black-magic blunder. Even though she was fairly sure he already knew what she’d done. “He was busy starting brawls.”

“I’m pretty sure that was your fault too,”  
Josie said, still trying to decipher his apparent hatred for her father. Was this just headmaster rivalry, or something else?

Professor Vardemus ignored her, studying the spell ingredients and grimoires scattered around the room. “I may have something that can help that rash of yours,” he said, lifting a stone pestle to sniff at the herb poultice she’d been grinding inside. 

Tempting, but...

“No,” Josie snapped, stealing her resolve. “I’ve had enough of your help. I cast that spell and I’m gonna deal with the consequences. But I’m never doing black magic again.”

Professor Vardemus had barely acknowledged her up until that point, but his head jerked up at that. “I would urge you not to limit yourself. Black magic has it’s place in our craft.”

“My dad always said the exact opposite,” Josie told him, knowing it would piss him off.

“Of course,” Vardemus said, slowly walking towards her. “I cannot think of a single reason why he would want to limit your exceptional abilities.” 

Josie was silent, staring up at him. She’d fallen for his flattery before, she wasn’t about to do it again.

“If you ever have need to talk,” Vardemus said as he moved past her and opened the door. “My door is always open.”

° ° °

When Dorian had told Josie to meet him at the school gates, she hadn’t expected to find him fending off a man with a sword. 

Then again, she supposed his frantic message of _resurrected ancient samari_ should have clued her in.

“Kon'nichiwa!” She called, switching into Japanese as she ran to Dorian’s side, keeping a fair distance away from the pointed end of the man’s sword.

Dorian turned to her, clearly surprised. “Since when do you speak Japanese?”

“Since Lizzie’s old therapist was next to a Japanese language school.”

She turned back to the man, who had thankfully lowered his sword, and introduced herself. It was going well enough, until he started talking and all she could make out was the word _karuta_.

Well, she had to admit, when she’d taken those classes it had been due to the sheer boredom she’d experience while waiting for Lizzie to finish therapy. She’d assumed the most she’d actually use what she learned was in Japanese restaurants and as a bonus on her college applications, not to communicate with an ancient, sword-wielding samari warrior. 

“What’s he saying?” Dorian demanded.

Well, _karuta_ meant crazed, so she could start there.

“He’s... crazed?” She suggested, even though it didn’t feel quite right. “Karuta... oh, I think that’s his name! Also, another word for crazed.”

The man started talking again, holding up a carved, wooden mask to his face.

“He’s a... demon hunter,” she said, slowly translating as she relayed the information to Dorian. “Looking for an... Oni? Which is like a demon, ghost, monster kind of a thing.”

“Sounds like that’s our next Malivore monster,” Dorian said, still looking at Karuta as if he didn’t quite believe he was real.

“And the Oni’s probably wherever Landon is,” Josie concluded, a sudden pit in her stomach at the thought. 

Karuta lifted his sword, and Josie noticed the line of Japanese writing on it’s blade, even though she couldn’t see well enough to translate the glowing red letters. 

“Uh, he said he followed his sword here,” she told Dorian. “And it glows around _chinsuriki_? Oh, oh, supernaturals!”

“Okay,” Dorian said, sounding relieved. “Makes sense why he wound up here. But I’ve never seen one of those.”

He pointed to the mask hanging from Karuta’s neck, which prompted the man  
to grab it and brandish it at them while growling in Japanese.

“He said that we wouldn’t know if the Oni was here or not,” she told Dorian, who was looking _very_ confused. “It possesses people and it could be... anywhere. In anyone.”

She needed to find Landon. Now. 

° ° °

“I don’t understand why you do this,” Hope said to Maya as she worked to tame the girl’s thick, black curls into something resembling a half-ponytail. “It seems like modern-day torture.”

“It’s a rite of high-school passage,” Maya told her, meeting Hope’s stare in the bathroom mirror. “Besides, the uniform makes my ass look amazing.” 

Hope had been leaving Alaric’s office when Maya had found her and dragged her into the bathroom, demanding that Hope do her hair for the pep rally. Hope had agreed, but to be completely honest, she knew nothing about styling her own hair, let alone someone else’s. 

Even so, she had to agree that Maya looked good in her cheer uniform. Not that she had noticed, or anything. 

“Sorry,” she said when Maya winced, cringing as Hope tugged on her hair a little too hard. “I don’t know why you asked _me_ to do this, of all people. Hair isn’t exactly my thing. Or pep-rallies, for that matter. Why didn’t you ask one of your cheer-people to do it?”

“Cheer-people?” Maya chuckled, shaking her head. “You’re really not into this whole high school thing, are you?”

“You’re the one who decided to befriend the weird, loner, new girl,” Hope teased, winding Maya’s curls through her fingers as she tried to adjust the hair tie holding them in place. 

Maya smirked at her, reaching back to take the hair tie from Hope, effortlessly guiding it through her hair. “Well, can you blame me for flirting with the prettiest girl in school?”

Flirting. Hope hadn’t realized that was what they were doing, but...

“Relax, Hope,” Maya said, smiling at the confused expression on her face. “I’m not trying to seduce you or anything, I promise. And I know it can freak some people out.”

“What can?” 

“The whole girl-on-girl thing,” Maya said, suddenly not meeting Hope’s gaze. ”If you’re not into it, I totally understand. And I wasn’t trying to assume—”

“You assumed right,” Hope told her, the response all but automatic. She was still in love with Josie, of course, but that didn’t mean... well, she didn’t know what it meant, but she didn’t want Maya to think that she was _offended_ or anything. Quite the opposite, actually. “And it doesn’t freak me out. I don’t know if you noticed, but yesterday, at the game—”

“You mean how you and that girl from the Salvatore School couldn’t stop staring at each other?”

Hope jerked her head up, meeting Maya’s amused gaze. “You saw that?”

“Oh, trust me, it was obvious,” Maya said, smirking at Hope’s obvious discomfort. “You really have to work on your game, Marshall.”

“Yeah, well, it’s complicated,” Hope told her, brushing invisible dust off of the black t-shirt she was wearing. Maya’s t-shirt, actually. 

“Isn’t everything?” Maya agreed, sighing as she applied another layer of mascara to her lashes. “She’s cute, though. And kills on offense, which is a plus.”

Hope made a noncommittal noise of agreement, watching as Maya brushed highlighter across her cheekbones. “I wanted to thank you, by the way. For letting me crash last night.”

After she’d comforted Maya at the hospital, she might have _accidentally_ let it slip that she didn’t technically have a place to sleep that night, prompting Maya to insist that Hope come home with her. Hope had protested, she had, but then Maya had confessed that she would be alone anyway since her mother was spending the night at the hospital with Ethan, and she’d promised Hope pancakes for breakfast. Hope should have just gone back to Alaric’s loft and crashed on the couch, but her neck was still cramping from the night before, so she’d agreed.

In her defense, Sheriff Mac made _really_ good pancakes. 

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Maya said, but her smile faltered as she continued. “I didn’t want to be alone, anyway. Not with everything that’s going on.”

“How is Ethan?” Hope asked, her heart twinging at the expression on Maya’s face.

“As well as can be expected,” she said, rummaging through the contents of her makeup bag. “I honestly think I’m taking it harder than he is.”

Hope reached out and placed a hand on Maya’s shoulder, the need to _do_ something unbearable. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Maya said, sighing and forcing a smile onto her face as she studied herself in the mirror. “It’s not your fault.”

Well, it kind of was, but she couldn’t tell Maya that. 

Maya turned to her, her gaze warm. “You’ve been there for me more in the last twenty-four hours than any of those cheer-people ever have. Thank you.” 

Hope smiled at her, heat rising to her cheeks, and Maya beamed at her before grabbing her makeup bag and heading towards the door. 

“I’ll see you at the pep-rally!” She called over her shoulder. “Don’t be late.”

° ° °

“There you are!” Josie said as she burst through the door, relieved to find Lizzie standing in front of the mirror. “I need you.”

“So you can apologize for _this?”_ Lizzie screamed, whirling to face Josie, and she was confused until she saw the rash on her sister’s arm. “Are you seriously using black magic again? Allow me to remind you that whenever you do, whatever happens to you happens to me too.” 

Josie gaped, unable to speak as she felt a rush of hot, burning shame. She hadn’t even thought of how this would affect Lizzie. God, she was a terrible sister. 

“I am so sorry, it won’t happen again,” she promised, hoping it would be enough for Lizzie to forgive her. 

“Well, you’re just lucky that Sebastian appreciates the old-fashioned look,” Lizzie snapped, tugging down the sleeve of her floor-length blue dress.

Oh. Of course, that’s what this was really about. Sebastian.

Well, hopefully he would appreciate sisterly loyalty as well, because right now Josie _really_ needed Lizzie to skip her date and help her track down an ancient Japanese possession demon. 

She opened her mouth to explain, but Karuta chose that moment to start shouting from the hall.

“One second,” she told her sister, holding up a finger as she stepped into the hallway and pulled him inside.

“Who the hell is that?” Lizzie demanded when she saw Karuta, giving him a suspicious once over. 

“Long story,” Josie told her. “Short version, he’s a samari-slash-demon-hunter who lost his Oni and the only way we can kill it is with his demon-banishing sword before it carries off Landon into Malivore. Will you come?”

“Well,” Lizzie said, sighing as she fidgeted with her sleeve. “I suppose if I reschedule my date it _will_ give this rash some time to clear up.”

Lizzie’s typical way of admitting she wanted to help without _actually_ saying it. Perfect.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Josie squealed, throwing herself into Lizzie’s arms. 

It was all going so well, until Karuta starting pointing at Lizzie and saying... well, _crazed_. 

“He’s talking about me, isn’t he?” Lizzie asked, and Josie cringed at the hurt and paranoia in her voice. “He’s calling me crazy.”

“No, no,” Josie assured her. “He’s talking about the Oni, it possesses people, makes them _act_ crazy.” 

“Well, then I retract my offer,” Lizzie told her, glaring at Karuta as if his presence had personally offended her. “My mental health is the most precious thing that I have, Jo. A rash, I can deal with, but I can _not_ risk crazy. I’m sorry.”

Josie sighed, opening her mouth to argue, even though she knew it was likely a lost cause, but then she heard a chorus of screams behind her.

She turned, just in time to watch as Karuta lifted his sword and charged at a group of students in the hallway. 

Josie yelled at him to wait, but he was already gone, and she had no choice but to follow him.

Looks like she was doing this alone.

° ° °

Sometimes, Hope seriously questioned how anyone at the Salvatore School had survived this long without her there to clean up their messes.

Like right now, as she cast a sleeping spell on Rafael before locking him in the trunk of Alaric’s car.

Landon had said Hope was always in the right place at the right time, and she’d meant it when she’d told him it felt like the exact opposite. She’d been on her way to the pep-rally when she’d found them, just in time to stop Rafael from eating Landon. 

She was trying to move on, _seriously_ she was, but the universe seemed determined to prevent her from actually doing it. 

“What were you two even doing here?” She snarled, and Landon flinched when she turned to face him.

“Looking for answers,” he told her, his expression pained as he looked at Rafael’s unconscious form. “And, I guess... you.”

Looking for _her_? Why? Who would have...

“Dad?”

Oh, _crap_. 

“Josie?” Alaric said, and Hope ignored the fact that her heart was racing as Josie appeared, followed by a... man carrying a sword?

“What the hell’s going on?” Alaric asked, echoing her own thoughts.

The man started talking in— what was that? Japanese?— and then Josie was translating. 

“He said we came to protect the... bonsai-headed boy, I think,” Josie said, and Hope almost laughed at Landon’s bewildered expression. 

But then, Josie looked at her, and Hope flinched at the pure loathing in her gaze. Did she really hate her _that_ much? 

Josie inclined her head to the sword-wielding man at her side and muttered something under her breath in Japanese, and Hope had a sinking suspicion who it was about. 

Josie turned back to Hope, the glare she settled on her containing enough open animosity and annoyance that Hope almost took a step back.

“That’s Japanese for what the _hell_ is she doing here?”

° ° °

Josie had been right. She _knew_ Hope hadn’t been telling her the whole truth, that she was more involved in all  
of this than she’d wanted to admit.

And this proved it.

“Just because she’s supernatural doesn’t mean we can trust her,” she said, doing her best to pretend that Hope wasn’t even there as she addressed Landon and her dad. “I mean she shouldn’t be here.”

And if Hope flinched at that, Josie pretended not to notice that either.

“Look, I will take all the help I can get,” her dad argued, gesturing towards Karuta, who was sitting on the sidewalk, sharpening his knife. “Even from him. So ask him to tell us everything we should know.”

Fine. If her dad wanted Hope here, she’d deal with it. But that didn’t mean she had to like it.

When she prompted him, Karuta stood and sheathed his dagger at his waist, and then he began to explain.

“Dropped on his head as a baby,” Josie translated as he mimed getting hit on the head. “Samari school to learn discipline. He learned to slay Oni... demons, which is what we’re chasing.”

“He was a hero,” she said, smiling at Karuta, encouraging him to continue. “All the women begged to—“

Oh, okay she definitely wasn’t saying _that_. 

“Karuta-son,” she snapped, followed by a firm scolding in Japanese about the lack of necessity of such... vulgar details. “I don’t even know that word but it can _not_ be relevant—“

“Josie,” her dad said, sounding exasperated. “The point, let’s get to it.”

Even _Hope_ was laughing at her now. Wonderful. 

She nodded at Karuta, ignoring the urge to snap at Hope again. They had bigger problems.

“Karuta spent months tracking down an Oni that possessed people, moving from person to person by touch,” she explained as Karuta continued his story. “He was just about to kill it when it found it’s way into the body of a child and escaped him yet again. He gave chase, and caught the demon, but he could not bring himself to harm an innocent child. So instead, he made an impossible choice, and he took the Oni into himself. But it was then that he realized: unlike everyone else who had been possessed and remembered nothing, he was still partly in control of his faculties. He thinks the Oni found it harder to possess his broken mind. In his words, not mine. He tried to stab himself with his sword, but the Oni wouldn’t let him. So, he decided to never touch a person again, so that it could never possess anyone else—“

Karuta kept talking, and Josie couldn’t help but offer an expression of sympathy as she turned to him. “And then, Malivore. Eternity of nothingness, deep psychological torment. He came through an... _ana?_ I think he’s talking about a portal.”

“A portal? Where?” Hope asked, and Josie buried a growl of irritation. 

“Uh, sorry,” she said, channeling the persona Lizzie had perfected to make people feel lesser than her. “The ancient samari isn’t exactly an expert on Mystic Falls geography.”

Hope sighed, but she didn’t respond to Josie’s jibe.

“How do we kill the demon?” Landon asked, and Josie felt her annoyance fade slightly when she looked at him. At least he was okay. 

“With his sword,” she explained, gesturing to the blade at Karuta’s side. “It’s spelled with a special kind of magic, so if we can just find the Oni—“

She was interrupted by a loud bang that came from the trunk of her dad’s car, as if someone was... locked inside?

“Not a problem,” Hope said, and Josie suddenly realized who was missing. Rafael. 

The door to the trunk of the car was torn off of it’s hinges, and Karuta drew his sword as Rafael launched himself from the vehicle, soaring through the air and landing on his feet a few yards away.

Rafael looked... well, he _looked_ crazed. His teeth were bared, as well as his claws, and he growled as Karuta approached him.

Karuta murmured something Josie couldn’t hear under his breath, and she realized what he intended to do a moment too late.

Her dad screamed at Karuta to wait, but he swung his sword, the blade barely missing Rafael even as he dodged it. He raised it again, but before he could strike Hope screamed _motus_ , and the sword was ripped from his hands as it flew through the air. 

That didn’t stop Karuta, though. With his sword gone, he resorted to his fists as he swung at Rafael again and again and again.

Rafael, however, finally managed to wrap his arms around Karuta’s waist, and it was Josie’s turn to scream as he threw him across the parking lot and into the side of a school bus.

Rafael ran, but Josie didn’t even try to chase after him, moving to kneel at Karuta’s side to make sure he was okay.

Karuta looked up at her, his expression pained, and said the exact words that she’d been thinking. 

“He said that could have gone better.”

° ° °

As Hope entered the gymnasium with Alaric on her heels, she tried not to think about the words Josie had said, the hatred in her eyes when she’d looked at her.

_What the hell is she doing here?_

_Doesn’t mean we can trust her._

_She shouldn’t be here._

So much for not thinking about it, the words were already burned into her memory. Was your ex rejecting you really supposed to hurt this much? She didn’t think so. 

Hope was distracted from the familiar ache in her chest by the absolute _chaos_ of the pep-rally. Seriously, she’d never understood the hype surrounding high school football.

“Damn,” she said, scanning the crowd for any sign of Rafael. “I wonder if Raf already touched someone.”

“Yeah, just look for anyone acting strange or erratic,” Alaric told her. 

That suggestion was followed by the entire football team starting a weird chant of some kind, and Hope gave their huddle a pointed look. “You mean besides the football team.”

Hope saw Maya wave at her from the other side of the gym, and she moved towards her, wanting to ask her if she’d seen anything strange, but she was interrupted by the arrival of Sheriff Mac.

“There’s a student who needs your help.”

° ° °

As soon as Hope entered the locker room, she saw him.

Rafael was sitting on a bench in the back corner near the window, his head in his hands, his entire body shaking. 

“Raf?” She asked, careful not to spook him as she approached, remembering the sheer panic she still felt whenever someone managed to sneak up on her.

“Hope, wait, don’t touch him—“ Alaric said, but she ignored him as she knelt in front of Rafael and placed a hand on his knee.

“Raf?” She tried again, and this time he lifted his head to meet her gaze. “Hey. Rafael, that’s you, isn’t it?”

An instinctual part of her already knew that it was, but she needed him to confirm it. 

“Yeah,” Rafael said, his voice trembling as he nodded.

Hope breathed a sigh of relief, running her hand over his knee in what she hoped was a soothing gesture. 

“Um,” he said, glancing at Alaric before he returned his attention to her. “I wasn’t in control back there—“

“It’s okay,” she told him, interrupting before he could apologize. “I can help you. I just need to know if there’s anyone that you touched or who might have touched you.”

Rafael inhaled, his breathing still unsteady, and hesitated. “Um... I don’t remember any of it,” he admitted, and Hope immediately felt guilty for asking once his hands began to shake. 

“Okay,” she said, taking his hand in hers, working to make her voice as soothing as possible. “That’s okay.”

He looked at her, at Alaric, with something like desperation, and Hope cringed as her heart clenched. 

She knew that look. It was the _what’s happening to me_ look. 

This was all her fault. And she had no idea how to fix it. 

° ° °

“ _Inteo_ ,” Josie said, murmuring the binding incantation as she ran a hand over the frame of the door to her dad’s office, finishing the spell that would keep Landon safe while they hunted for the Oni.

A plan that Landon was _not_ in favor of. Not that he got a vote. 

“Barrier spell,” she said to Landon’s questioning look. “It means that no one can get in or out without me saying so. Including you.”

She could feel Landon glaring at her from the door, but she chose to ignore it. Like she said, not a fan.

“Is this about Hope?” He asked, and Josie flinched.

_What the hell was that supposed to mean?_

“Why would it be?” Josie demanded, aggressively tugging at the strings of her herb pouch.

“Ever since she showed up, you’ve been acting strange. I know we agreed to learn more about her, but maybe we can do that by I don’t know, talking to her. I’m not saying we should trust her, but—“

“I don’t,” Josie told him, interrupting Landon before she said something she would regret. “And she’s not the only one who gets to save your life today. You’re welcome, by the way.”

“Josie,” he said, and she bristled at his patronizing tone. “You know I’m a pheonix, right? I’m not a sitting duck, we have other options here.”

“Okay, name one,” she said, deciding to indulge him for a moment. 

“Malivore sent the Oni for me, so I say we let the demon possess me, and then you kill me with this sword,” he said, holding up Karuta’s blade. “Demon gets vanquished, I resurrect, we win!”

Josie was sure she’d heard a worse plan at some point in her life, but at the moment, none were coming to mind. Was he _serious_? 

“ _If_ it works, Landon,” she reminded him. “I’m not handing you to some demon to find out.”

“This is exactly what I wanted to talk to your dad about,” he said. “Forcing everyone else to put themselves in danger to stop whatever monster’s coming after me next is an unsustainable solution.”

“Landfills are an unsustainable solution, keeping you alive is _not_ ,” she snapped. “End of discussion.”

She tried to take the sword from him, but the moment she touched the hilt pain flared in her arm, as if every single one of her nerves was on fire. She yanked her hand back, rubbing at her skin to ease the lingering sting.

“What is it?” Landon demanded, scanning her for any obvious injuries. “What’s wrong?”

 _It’s spelled with a special kind of magic_.

“It’s spelled with black magic, a lot of it,” she told him, the realization hitting her like a bucket of ice water. “Another reason we are not doing this.”

She moved towards the door, ignoring Landon’s protests as she moved past the barrier spell and into the hall.

She needed backup. Now. 

° ° °

Hope and Alaric were heading back to his office from the pep rally when they found Josie in the hallway. 

“Did you find Raf?” She asked, and Hope couldn’t help but hear the barely concealed panic in her voice. Something was bothering her.

“Yeah,” Alaric said, sighing as he ran a hand through his hair. “We sent him back to campus. The Oni wasn’t in him so it could be anywhere.”

“I asked Maya, and she said she hadn’t seen anything strange,” Hope told them, referring to the conversation she’d had with Maya after they’d found Rafael. At first, she’d chewed Hope out for missing the pep rally, and _then_ she’d wanted to know why she’d seen Josie in the hallway, but eventually they’d gotten around to it and she’d told Hope she hadn’t noticed anyone acting weird or _erratic_ as Alaric had put it. 

“Maya?” Josie asked, bristling with confusion. 

“She’s a... friend,” Hope said, unsure of how she should describe Maya to her ex-girlfriend. Did she hint that they were something? Were they?

Maya was right, she did need to work on her game.

Josie stared at her for a moment too long, and she almost looked like she wanted to say something, but then she changed her mind.

“I’ll find the Oni,” she said. “As long as you convince Landon not to sacrifice himself to stop this thing.”

“No,” Hope said, and Josie turned to her, obviously surprised she’d voiced her disapproval. “Uh, no, he can’t do that. I mean we can’t give the monster what it wants.”

_Nice save, Hope._

“Especially when what it wants is my boyfriend,” Josie pointed out, with a certain amount of _bite_ in her tone. “Who’s only doing this because he thinks that it’s all his fault.”

Judging by Alaric’s expression, the whole _boyfriend_ thing was new to him.

“Boyfriend?” He asked, and Hope decided it would be best to interrupt before this got any _more_ painful. 

“Why don’t I talk some sense into him?” She suggested, though she doubted Josie would agree. “Okay?”

To her surprise, Josie nodded. 

It was the small victories, Hope decided.

° ° °

When Hope opened the door to Alaric’s office, Landon was sitting by the window. He lifted his head when he saw her, and she managed a weak smile. 

This should be fun. 

“Hey,” she said, shutting the door behind her. “Josie dropped the barrier spell so that I could get in.”

Landon stood from behind the desk, but he didn’t say anything. Maybe he was still sulking about the barrier spell?

“Look, there’s a demon loose inside the school somewhere, we have to get you to somewhere safe.”

“There is nowhere safe,” Landon said, his stare blank.

Hope hesitated, unsure of how to respond to that. Landon was an optimist in most situations, but maybe the Malivore of it all had finally worn him down. She knew the feeling. 

“Okay, well, somewhere safer than here,” she said, picking the samari sword up off of the coffee table. “If this is the one thing that can kill an Oni, what if it’s the one thing that can kill a pheonix, too?”

Landon moved closer, taking the sword from her and examining it. He still wasn’t talking. It was almost unsettling; the Landon she‘d known could never shut up.

“Josie told me that you think the monsters being back is your fault,” she said, deciding to try a different angle. “But it isn’t.”

“What do you know about it?” He asked, propping the sword up against Alaric’s desk.

“Too much,” she scoffed, the desire to tell him the whole story burning beneath her skin. But for now, she’d stick with the selective truth. “Trust me, Landon, even though you might have the best intentions not every sacrifice is worth it. No matter how much you think it is.”

She thought she’d made peace with her decision, but after she’d seen the hatred in Josie’s eyes... god, what had she _done_? 

She wouldn’t allow Landon to make the same mistake.

“You said this isn’t my fault,” he pointed out, turning to face her. 

“It isn’t.”

“Then whose is it?”

“That doesn’t matter,” she said, even though her head was screaming _mine mine mine_. “We need to—“

“It matters to me,” Landon said, interrupting her in a firm tone she’d never heard him use before.

She couldn’t tell him, she _shouldn’t_. But... Josie needed Landon alive. The truth might be the only way to ensure that he didn’t sacrifice himself. 

“It’s my fault,” she admitted, taking a step towards him. “I’m the one that went into the pit. It was the only way to save you, to save everyone. To save J—“

She stopped herself before she said _to save Josie_ , deciding she could wait to reveal that damning piece of information. 

But Landon didn’t react like she’d expected. She’d braced herself for shock, anger, confusion... not the blank stare he leveled at her. “To save Josie? That’s what you were going to say, isn’t it?”

Hope nodded, words failing her as she avoided his steady gaze. 

“Why would you want to save her? Or me?”

“Because we were friends,” she told him, her voice shaking at the admission. “You and I, and— and Josie.”

“Come on,” Landon said, and she couldn’t describe the look in his eyes. Curiosity? Vindication? “There has to be more to it than that. Tell me.”

“You’re gonna hate me if I do,” she said, cringing away from his outstretched hand. “And so will she.”

“Let us make that decision for ourselves,” he insisted, and Hope felt her heart break a little at that. Still, it was too late to go back now.

“Josie and I, we were in love,” she told him, biting her lip as she spoke the words. She’d already told Alaric the truth, but this felt different. Dangerous, more potent. And yet...

There was a strange, prickling sensation in her gut. She felt almost... giddy. Because no matter what happened, Josie would _know_. She didn’t have to hide it anymore. 

“I know you don’t remember it,” she said. “I know it doesn’t make any sense, and I have so much that I need to explain, but I can’t let you risk your life because I tried to give up mine to save it. To save _all_ of you from Malivore. So we have to find another solution that doesn’t involve you being possessed.”

She waited for Landon to say something, to demand that she tell Josie everything, but he just stared at her. And then...

“Too late.” 

It took a moment for the words to register, but by then it really was too late. 

Because before she could move, Landon reached out and slammed her head into the filing cabinet, and then everything went black.

° ° °

Josie knew something was wrong the moment she stepped into her dad’s office. 

Hope was sitting on the couch, nursing a bruise that was forming on her forehead, her dad was sitting at her side with a grim expression on his face, and Landon... Landon was gone.

“What happened?” She asked, panic creeping into her voice. “Where’s Landon?”

She glared at Hope when she didn’t say anything, opening her mouth to demand that she explain—

“Josie,” her dad said, interrupting her with a sigh. “Just give her a second.”

“But you said you were gonna _help_ ,” Josie snapped, and Hope finally looked at her. “Were you possessed?”

“No,” Hope said, wincing as she touched the bruise at her temple. Wait, had Landon done _that_? “Landon was.”

“That’s impossible,” Josie said, even though she could feel the dread pooling in her stomach. “How?”

“Well, we thought Raf was gonna pass the Oni on to someone at the pep rally,” her dad said, standing and moving behind the desk. Then, he spun the chair around, and Josie flinched as Karuta’s head fell limp, revealing a bloody gash along his neck. “Karuta must have been possessed after Raf attacked him.”

Hope sighed, rubbing at her temple. “The Oni wanted to be alone with Landon to take control of him, and—“

“Sayonara Samari,” her dad finished. 

“Okay,” Josie sighed, forcing herself to remain calm. “Where would he have gone?”

“I mean my best guess is the portal,” Hope said. 

Damn it. “Well, we don’t even know where that is.”

“Do you have something of Landon’s?” Her dad asked, picking up the briefcase that was lying on his desk. “Because you both could do a locator spell right now.” 

“Yeah, but that’s not mine,” Josie told him, grabbing her backpack and pulling the note Landon had given her from the front pocket. 

With obvious reluctance, she handed it to Hope, and then sat down beside her on the couch.

“A love note?” She said, moving to unfold it, but Josie snatched it from her before she could.

“That’s not for you,” she snapped, glaring at Hope.

Hope stared at her, and if Josie didn’t know any better, she looked almost hurt.

But then she sighed, crossing her arms and holding out her hands, gesturing for Josie to join her. 

Josie slid her hands into Hope’s, and they started to chant. 

And if Josie felt anything when they touched, a ghost of that phantom heat she’d felt in the town square, she ignored that too. 

° ° °

The first thing Josie noticed when she and Hope ran into the town square was Landon lying motionless on the ground.

She screamed his name, falling to her knees at his side, and that’s when she saw the dried blood surrounding the stab wound in his stomach.

The second thing she noticed was that her sister was chaining herself to a tree.

“Lizzie?” She asked, scanning her for any obvious injuries. “Are you okay?”

“Nope,” her sister said, and Josie felt dread creep up her spine. This was bad, whatever this was. “I’m super crazy, but at least there’s a reason this time.”

Lizzie’s eyes glowed red, and Josie flinched as she bared her teeth and _growled_.

“The demon’s in me.”

° ° °

When they’d learned Landon was possessed, Hope had thought the situation couldn’t get any worse. She’d been wrong.

Standing in the town square, chaining Lizzie to a tree in order to prevent the demon that was possessing her from attacking them, was _much_ worse.

Not to mention the fact that Josie hadn’t spoken to Hope since she’d snapped at her over a _love note._ The universe really did enjoy screwing with her, didn’t it? 

As she finished wrapping the chain around the tree and locking it in place, Lizzie’s eyes flashed red and she actually _growled_ at her, causing Hope to flinch. 

Josie jerked to her feet, moving from her place at Landon’s side, but Lizzie was already apologizing.

“Sorry,” she said, a frantic crack to her voice as she held out her hand. “That is embarrassing. We haven’t met yet, have we? I’m Lizzie.”

Hope smiled at her, though it was more of a grimace than anything. This _seriously_ wasn’t how she’d imagined meeting Lizzie again.

“I don’t understand,” Josie said, leaving Landon as she stepped towards her sister. “If the Oni is in you then how are you talking?”

“I don’t know,” Lizzie said, stammering as she tried to get the words out, and Hope saw that she was shaking. “I— I can feel it in my head, it’s trying to take over, I don’t know how much longer I can—”

She stopped talking, and her gaze went blank. “Nevermind,” she said, smiling at them. “It’s gone. You can untie me.”

Josie looked to her, as if asking Hope if they should believe her, but they got their answer a moment later.

“I didn’t say that,” Lizzie gasped, the emptiness fading from her eyes. “It did, okay? It’s still in me, so don’t—”

The demon took over again, and the panic in Lizzie’s gaze was replaced by unsettling calm. “Listen to me, I’m fine. We should probably get out of here before we—”

Lizzie groaned, the sound followed by an high-pitched laugh. “Okay,” she said, the word edged with a sob. “You have to stop me. _Please_. Otherwise this thing is gonna win.”

“She’s fighting the demon somehow like Karuta did,” Hope said, remembering how the samari had told them the demon hadn’t been able to fully possess him due to his broken mind. 

“I already know I’m crazy,” Lizzie snapped, though there wasn’t any real bite to it. “You don’t have to rub it in.”

“Karuta was not crazy,” Josie insisted, frustration seeping into her voice. “And neither are you.”

“Where’s Dad?” Lizzie asked instead of responding to Josie, and Hope’s heart broke a little at how defeated she sounded. “I just want Dad.”

_I just want my mom._

_No, Hope. Don’t go there._

“Karuta fought the Oni for years,” she told Lizzie, hoping to reassure her. “If you could just give us a little bit of time, then we can—”

“No,” Lizzie cried, pain contorting her features. “I can’t live like this anymore.”

Hope was brought back to her bedroom in New Orleans, to her screaming almost the exact same words to her dad’s astral projection in the wake of her mother’s death, the pain of the memory cutting like a knife. 

“Sebastian isn’t real,” Lizzie screamed, tears streaming down her face, and now it was Hope’s turn to be confused. Who was Sebastian? “This whole time I thought I was better but I have just been seeing things, and hearing things, and feeling things that no one else does.”

“And it’s scary,” she admitted, gasping for breath as she choked on a sob. “It’s scarier than any demon in my head. Although that sucks too.” 

“Lizzie,” Josie said, her eyes wet with unshed tears. “Lizzie it’s okay, okay? We’re gonna fix you.”

“No,” Lizzie whimpered, shaking her head. “There’s no fixing me, Jo, I’m just shattered. And the pieces are too small to put back together.”

Josie was crying now, her cheeks lined with silent tears. Hope tried to think of something, _anything_ that would fix this, but it was difficult when all she could hear was Lizzie’s sobs. 

“Tell Dad that I love him,” Lizzie told Josie. “But you have to end this.”

“What?” Josie gasped, staring at her sister in disbelief. 

“With that sword,” Lizzie prompted, gesturing to Karuta’s blade where it was lying on the ground at Josie’s feet. 

_Oh, not a chance in hell._

“Woah,” Hope said, locking eyes with Lizzie. “I know that we just met, but there is _no_ way that we are gonna let that happen.”

Lizzie opened her mouth to respond, but then she gasped and her eyes turned red. “You have no choice,” said the demon, it’s voice deep and gravelly even as it spoke through Lizzie, and Hope recoiled at the sound. “This will not stop until you give me the boy.”

Josie flinched, glancing at Landon’s unmoving form. 

So this _was_ about him. 

Lizzie’s body jerked, and then the pain returned to her features as she curled in on herself. As much as the chains would allow, at least. 

“Lizzie, you have to _fight_ this thing,” Josie said, and Hope looked up when she heard her choke back a sob of her own. 

“Fighting’s useless,” crooned the demon, and Lizzie’s eyes flashed red. “Malivore still lives and his control over us is stronger than ever. Soon the likes of me will be the least of your concerns.”

Well, _that_ was lovely news. 

The demon’s control broke, and then Lizzie was herself again. “Distracted during a monologue,” she said, choking on an incredulous laugh. “Classic villain mistake.”

Josie tried to laugh, but the sound got caught in her throat as she looked at the sword at her feet, the letters inscribed on it’s blade glowing red. 

“Jo, you gotta do this. For me, okay?”

Josie was shaking her head, trembling all over, and Hope forced herself to remain where she was, to not give in to the instinctual urge to comfort her. 

“It’s only a matter of time before you kick my ass in the merge anyway,” Lizzie said, and Hope had to admit, her laughter sounded well... crazed. “And this is better than the merge because this way, you won’t have to live with some messed up part of me in your brain forever, driving you as crazy as I am.”

_Seriously, what did Hope have to do to make these two stop trying to die for each other?_

Josie took a deep breath, shaking her head at her sister. “We weren’t going to talk about that until we had real solutions.”

“Maybe this is it,” Lizzie said, throwing up her hands in desperation.

Josie opened her mouth to argue, but then Lizzie screamed, writhing against the chains. “Josie, it’s coming back, please!”

But Josie wasn’t doing anything.

That’s when Lizzie’s tear-filled, panicked gaze found hers. “If Josie won’t do this, then you have to.”

Hope looked to Josie, silently asking her what she wanted her to do. Not that her stabbing Lizzie with that sword was even a possibility. 

But Lizzie screamed again, and Josie turned, leaning down to pick up the sword from the ground. She gasped when the metal touched her skin, wincing from the pain of the black magic dancing at her fingertips. “There’s so much black magic in it that it hurts to hold,” she said, pain contorting her features, and Hope fought the urge to take the blade from her. 

“Probably won’t feel much better getting stabbed by it,” Lizzie said, chuckling to herself.

Neither Hope or Josie found it very amusing. 

“I can pull the magic out of this and maybe pull the Oni out of you,” she said, tightening her hold on the sword, and Hope understood what she intended to do.

Her first thought was a firm, resounding _no_. Siphoning that much black magic... it could kill her. 

But then she saw the pain on Josie’s face, heard Lizzie crying, and forced herself to stay quiet. 

This was for Lizzie. She had to remember that. 

Josie took a deep breath to ground herself, and her hands glowed red as she siphoned the magic from the sword. 

The darkness infused her veins, and when she opened her eyes, they were entirely black. 

Lizzie stared at her sister in horror, and Hope realized she herself was shaking as she felt a familiar panic rising in her. 

Josie dropped the sword, and it fell to the ground, drained of it’s magic. 

And then she _screamed_. 

It almost reminded Hope of when she’d screamed in the woods under Lizzie’s instruction, but this... this was different. 

Her scream wasn’t fueled by anger or anxiety or overwhelming emotion, but by sheer power. And with it came a wave of black magic, tendrils of dark matter that exploded from Josie’s hands and wrapped themselves around Lizzie, who gasped as the magic consumed her.

The face of the demon appeared in the black haze, red skin and pointed teeth, and it roared as it was pulled from Lizzie and into the bubbling puddle of mud at their feet. 

The portal. 

Josie stopped screaming, the silence that followed deafening, gasping as the magic left her body. Hope sighed in relief when her eyes returned to normal, her heart racing as she waited for Josie to say something, to confirm that she was okay. 

“You did it,” Lizzie gasped, staring at her sister in disbelief before breaking into a relieved grin. “I love you.” 

“You better,” Josie told her, swaying where she stood, and Hope saw the exhaustion on her face. 

She opened her mouth to suggest that Josie sit down, to ask if she was okay, but then Lizzie’s eyes rolled into the back of her head and she went limp, sagging against her chains. 

And then, before Hope could even move to catch her, Josie fell to the ground. 

° ° °

The images were the same as before. 

A set of blue eyes the color of sapphires, the arch of an ear, the silver chain of a necklace with a charm engraved with the letter _M_. 

There was that same haunting ghost of a laugh, the sound carrying an inherent warmth that was almost familiar. Comforting. 

_I know the only thing you want from me is the truth,_ said a voice. _And the truth is—_

It ended the same as before, and as always it left Josie wanting, feeling as if she was missing something. What, she still didn’t know. 

But this time, she did know who it was. 

_She’d heard that voice before._

When Josie woke, she was still lying on the ground in the town square, though someone had moved her to a more comfortable patch of grass. Her entire body ached, the black magic she’d siphoned beginning to take it’s toll.

 _Lizzie_.

She sat upright, fast enough that her vision went black at the edges, and panic stirred in her chest as she searched for her sister. But Lizzie was fine, lying a few feet away from her on the ground, the only sign that the demon had possessed her being her lack of consciousness. 

And that’s when Josie noticed her.

Hope. 

She was sitting on the ground at Josie’s side, an intense expression of worry on her face, though the tension left her once she noticed Josie was awake. 

“Hey,” she said, smiling at her, and Josie didn’t quite know what to do with the warmth in her gaze. 

That voice, though, that damn voice. The one from her dream.

It was _her_. 

“Josie?” Hope asked, her concern returning when Josie didn’t say anything. “Are you okay?” 

“It was you,” Josie said, still disoriented from the magic and her realization that Hope was the person she’d been dreaming of this entire time. 

“That moved you here?” Hope said, nodding at her, her smile confused. 

“Where’s Landon?” Josie demanded, suddenly realizing he wasn’t lying on the ground beside her. 

Hope’s smile disappeared, and her gaze shuttered, as if Josie had reminded her of something painful. “I brought him back to the school. Don’t worry, he’s fine. I just didn’t think him bursting into flames in the town square was ideal. Wait, your hair, it’s—”

She reached up, presumably to tuck a stray piece of hair behind Josie’s ear, but Josie grabbed her wrist before she could. 

Hope flinched, looking at Josie’s hand, as if she was surprised she’d stopped her. 

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Josie said, unable to ignore how jarring it was to look at Hope and see the same features she’d been envisioning for months. 

Auburn curls, blue eyes, the same necklace and earrings and voice— how had she not noticed it before?

Hope stared at her, confused, though Josie swore there was fear in her eyes too. 

“Who are you?” She demanded, and Hope gaped at her. “Why am I... dreaming of you?” 

Then, she realized her hand was still on Hope’s wrist. She moved to take it away, but before she could, Hope reached up and placed her hand on Josie’s. 

Josie faltered, the words she’d been about to say fading from her lips, because that warmth was... familiar. “Hope, what—”

“You should get back to Landon,” Hope said, smiling even though it looked like the words caused her visible pain. 

Josie opened her mouth to argue, to demand Hope tell her the truth, to ask her to... what? Stay? 

But Hope was already gone.

° ° °

Honestly, it was a miracle Josie made it back to the school without fainting again. 

After Hope left, she’d started to feel cold. At first, there’d been the alarming thought that it was because she’d lost Hope’s warmth, but then she’d realized it was the magic. 

As she opened the door to Professor Vardemus’s office, she allowed it to take all of her weight, the promise she’d made to herself to not accept his help forgotten in the wake of the ache in her bones. 

“Miss Saltzman,” he said, frowning when she stepped through the door. “What’s wrong?”

Josie could still feel the burn of the black magic in her veins, remnants of what she’d drawn from Karuta’s sword. It had drained her of energy, of life. 

She needed help. Now. 

“I did black magic,” she confessed. “Not on purpose this time.” 

“After this morning’s declaration, I can only assume it was absolutely necessary,”   
Vardemus said, though he couldn’t hide the satisfaction in his voice. 

Josie entered the office, her steps slow and unsteady, bracing herself against the back of a plush velvet armchair to remain on her feet. “I feel really sick,” she admitted. “You said you had something that could help.”

Vardemus sighed, set down his wine glass, and moved to take what looked like an hourglass off of the shelf. “This is Mora Miserium,” he explained, setting it down on the desk. “A tool used by certain witches to withhold the effects of using such magic.” 

“For how long?” Josie asked, even as she stumbled towards the hourglass. 

“Indefinitely,” Vardemus said, slanting a smile at her. “So long as it doesn’t shatter.”

“Simply place your hands on the glass,” he instructed, gesturing towards the hourglass. “And all will be as it should be.”

Josie looked at him, a sliver of unease still lingering in her gut. It couldn’t be that easy, could it?

But Vardemus nodded at her, and really, what else could she do? She needed the black magic out of her system.

So, Josie placed her hands on the glass, it’s surface cool to the touch. She inhaled, centering herself, and the darkness filled the hourglass. And then she felt... better.

“I feel better,” she said, sighing as her energy returned to her, the exhaustion that had gripped her instantly gone. “I think it’s working.”

“Yes,” he said, smiling at her. “It is.”

° ° °

Josie didn’t just feel better. She felt _great_.

Whatever the hourglass had done, it hadn’t just taken the black magic from her, it had given something back. She felt energized, as if she’d just had a good nights sleep. 

If this was what doing black magic felt like, maybe Vardemus had been right in saying it wasn’t so bad. It had saved Lizzie’s life, after all. That had to count for something, right? 

When she opened the door to his room, Landon was sitting on the bed, strumming his guitar, and Josie felt a rush of relief at the sight of him. 

He was okay.

“It’s beautiful,” she said, referring to the melody he’d been humming.

“Hey,” Landon said, setting his guitar aside, looking as relieved as Josie felt. “I couldn’t find you when we got back, are you okay?” 

Josie nodded, sitting beside him on the bed. “I’m good,” she said, beaming at Landon. “I’m worried about Lizzie though, I kind of blasted her with enough black magic to exorcise an Oni out of her head.” 

“Wait,” Landon said, shaking his head, worry clouding his gaze. “You did black magic?”

“For the powers of good,” she clarified, hoping he would understand. 

“Okay,” he said, though he still looked confused.

“What?”

“You saved my life today,” he said, grinning back at her, and she felt the last strains of tension leave her body. 

“Well, technically, Lizzie did,” she told him, relieved they could joke about the whole her-sister-stabbing-him-with-a-sword-thing. “But I totally got the assist, so.”

“Either way,” he said, smirking at her. “It’s super sexy.”

Josie laughed, warmth swelling in her chest as she leaned in and kissed him, her fingers winding through his hair. 

Landon didn’t stop after one kiss, and neither did she, and then she was tugging his sweatshirt off of his shoulders, pushing him down on the bed as she crawled on top of him. 

She moved to take her own shirt off, but then Landon reached out and stopped her. She looked down at him, confused, panic clawing at her heart. Did he... not want to? 

“Not yet,” he said, and she sighed at the raw emotion in his gaze. “But soon.”

Then, he kissed her, and if Josie had felt something earlier when Hope had taken her hand, she forgot all about it. 

° ° °

“I should have been there tonight,” Alaric said, sheathing Karuta’s sword into the dirt by the samari’s grave. “With you and the girls. I got distracted when it mattered most. Thank you. For being there with them. I don’t know what would have happened to Lizzie and Josie if you hadn’t been there with them.”

Hope would have liked to believe that Josie still needed her, but it wasn’t as if she’d done anything useful tonight. She’d just stood there, helpless, while Josie saved the day. 

“They’re stronger than you think,” she told him, even though she had a feeling that the memory of Josie screaming as the black magic left her would be haunting her for a while. “They didn’t need my help.”

“Maybe,” he said, studying her as emotion pooled in his gaze. 

_Oh, no. She knew what that look meant._

“What about Josie?” He asked, and Hope fought the urge to flinch at the question. She’d been dreading this conversation. “What are you going to do?”

“For the last time, I’m not going back,” she told him, even though her heart ached to admit it. 

Being around Josie today had taught her one thing: she didn’t want Hope in her life. She was happy, and Hope wasn’t going to jeopardize that. She cared about her too much. 

Josie didn’t _need_ her. 

“Hope,” Alaric sighed, and she immediately wanted to slap the pitying look off of his face. “You told me that you and Josie shared an epic love. So, what’s really holding you back?”

Hope hesitated, even though deep down, she knew the answer. “I mean, what if I tell her everything, and she still wants to be with Landon?”

“Are you really going to spend the rest of your life without finding out?” Alaric asked, and _of course_ , he’d use this as an opportunity for a life lesson.

 _It doesn’t matter,_ Hope told herself. _Because after tonight, you’ll never see Josie again._

“What I found was the portal to Malivore,” she told Alaric, and she saw understanding dawn in his gaze. “And what I’m gonna do is finish what I started at the pit. But this time, I’m gonna get it right.”

Which meant she wouldn’t be coming back. Not this time. 

She’d tried to move on, but her fate didn’t seem to want to leave her alone. 

It wasn’t like Josie would even remember she was gone. 

° ° °

The girl came to Lizzie in her dreams. 

She’d seen her before, earlier, when Josie had exorcised the Oni from her. 

Only these weren’t dreams, Lizzie realized. They were memories. 

_We did not wait ten years to become friends with you..._

_I believe you._

_Let’s make a deal, then._

And then Lizzie woke up, jerking upright in bed, three words burned into her brain.

_Hope. Andrea. Mikaelson._


	5. i’ll be coming for your love, okay?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It took Hope a second to recognize the double meaning to her words, to see the hazy desire in Maya’s eyes as she shifted closer, not even trying to hide the fact that she was staring at Hope’s lips. Oh. 
> 
> “God, I want to kiss you,” she said, her voice a heated, lazy rasp that screamed tequila and lowered inhibitions. 
> 
> “What’s stopping you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey all! sorry for the wait, but it took me forever to write this chapter and i’m still not a huge fan of how it turned out. i think it’s because of the lack of hosie interaction in this episode, but after chapter 6 this fic will be going more in the alternate canon universe of things which i’m excited for. i know the world is crazy right now, so i hope everyone is staying safe and healthy both physically & mentally. as a result of legacies shortened season, this fic will be shorter than i expected, but i still plan on finishing through at least 2.16. plus, i have a few other hosie fics in the works that i’m very excited to post! thank you for all of your support, i hope you enjoy this chapter and that it takes your mind off of things, even if it’s just for a little while :)

“Hope. Andrea. Mikaelson.”

Hope was in the town square, standing over the portal to Malivore, psyching herself up for another plunge into it’s depths, when she heard those three damning words.

She turned, her heart suddenly pounding in her chest, and that’s when she saw her.

Lizzie. 

She was stalking towards her, a determined look on her face that Hope had always associated with party planning and knocking others down a peg.

“ _What?_ ” Hope asked, unable to contain her shock.

“It’s official,” Lizzie said, and that’s when Hope noticed the recognition in her gaze that had been missing before. Lizzie knew who she was. “I remember everything.”

Hope opened her mouth, but she felt vaguely like a fish gasping for air as she tried to work past the emotion those words had invoked.

“When I woke up from that spell Josie blasted me with, you popped into my messed up brain like an acid-flashback,” Lizzie explained, and Hope could tell she’d been waiting all morning to say this. Rehearsed it, even. 

“How?” Hope asked, still struggling to process Lizzie standing in front of her and knowing who she was. All of it, not just the bits and pieces she’d chosen to share with Alaric. “You are literally the only person on the planet who knows that I exist.”

She moved to hug Lizzie, the need to touch her and make sure she was real almost painful. Hope hadn’t realized just how much she’d longed for human contact until that moment. 

But Lizzie held out her arms, stopping her. “Epic former frenemy reunion is gonna have to wait,” she said, and Hope tried to hide her disappointment. 

“We have bigger drama,” she continued, looking as if she was about to be sick. “Josie and Landon are having _sex_ tonight.”

It took a moment for Hope to understand her, and then another for her to bury the hurt she immediately felt, accompanied by a prickling sensation she recognized as jealousy.

“What?” 

“There’s a decade dance,” Lizzie said, as if that made it obvious. 

“Okay,” Hope said, rolling her eyes as she tried to decipher Lizzie-logic. “That doesn’t mean that—“

“She asked me to find an excuse to stay with my dad,” Lizzie said, raising her eyebrows, waiting for Hope to catch on. 

Oh. Well, maybe Lizzie had a point after all. 

How the hell was she supposed to feel about this? Josie and Landon were dating, they had every right.

And yet, the prickling sensation in her gut said otherwise. 

“You have to stop it,” Lizzie said, and some traitorous, primal part of Hope screamed it’s approval. “Speak your truth, spill your beans, tell your tale.” 

“Why didn’t you tell her?” Hope asked, because if Lizzie was so eager to stop this, she could have told Josie the truth already. She’d never excelled at keeping information to herself. 

“Because I didn’t want to be the one to break her heart,” Lizzie said, sighing, and Hope could tell she felt guilty about keeping this from her sister. “That’s your job.”

Hope recoiled at that, glaring at Lizzie. The last thing she wanted was to hurt Josie, which was exactly why—

But of course, at that exact moment, the puddle of Malivore mud started bubbling.

“Ugh,” Lizzie groaned, glaring at the mud pit for daring to interfere with what Hope had guessed to be a very well-thought out plan to convince her to return to the school and tell Josie everything. “ _Not_ a good time.”

Hope turned to stand at Lizzie’s side as smoke poured from the opening in the ground, curling around their feet. 

And that’s when the woman appeared.

She looked as if she belonged in a movie set in the eighties, with a teal leather jacket and neon bangles and fishnet tights. Her lids were lined with electric blue eyeshadow, her blonde hair teased into a poof. 

“Who the hell are you?” Hope demanded and she felt Lizzie tense beside her, ready for a fight. 

The woman chuckled, staring at them as if they were a delicious treat laid out just for her. “I’m the keeper,” she said, flashing a set of too-white teeth. “And this is gonna be a lot easier than I thought.”

She held her arm up, and the gold bangle on her wrist started to glow. 

“Welcome to the game.”

And just like that, she vanished.

“Well,” Lizzie said after a moment, staring at the place where the woman had disappeared. “That was anticlimactic.”

Hope sighed, turning towards the street. If the monsters were back, she needed to get to the school. “We need to get to the school to protect Landon. If this Keeper is like the Oni, she’ll be coming for him next.”

“More like to protect Josie _from_ Landon by warning her she’s about to have sex with a human-sized garden gnome,” Lizzie said, and Hope realized she wasn’t going to drop this. 

Lizzie was prevented from any further coercing, however, when they stepped into the street just as a car screeched around the corner. It didn’t slow down as it drew closer, and Hope wrapped a hand around Lizzie’s wrist on instinct as the vehicle barreled towards them.

She could have sworn it hit them, but the next thing she knew they were lying on the grass in the town square, as if nothing had happened. 

“What just happened?” Lizzie demanded, staring at Hope.

“I think the game just started.”

° ° °

“Alright, everybody work together,” Josie said as she entered the mess hall, clipboard in hand, the preparations for the decade dance in full swing around her. 

“Lizzie’s gonna be here any second and trust me you do not want to have only ninety-eight red balloons,” she told the students on balloon-duty, hiding her smile at the hint of fear on their faces.

Her sister did not mess around when it came to party-planning. Josie was surprised she wasn’t here already, ordering everyone around.

Landon was standing on the other side of the room with Rafael, and Josie smirked at him over her shoulder when he caught her eye. 

“Hey,” she said, pressing her body against Landon’s in what she hoped was a subtle gesture as she joined them. 

“So, I talked to Lizzie, and she’s actually gonna stay in town with my dad tonight,” she told him, praying that he would get the message without her having to spell it out.

“Good,” Landon said, smiling at her, though he did hesitate for a moment. 

“Yeah,” she agreed, prodding him in the chest. “Just, FYI, right?”

He still looked a little confused, but she decided to leave him to decipher what she meant on his own. And if he needed clarification... she had a feeling that Rafael would be happy to explain it to him.

° ° °

“Okay, let’s try this again,” Hope said as she and Lizzie stepped up to the side of the road.

This time, they’d hopefully avoid being run over by a car. 

“So,” Lizzie said, nudging Hope as they scanned the road for oncoming cars. “Since we’re trapped here, are we ever gonna talk about how you came back from Malivore and decided not to tell any of us?”

“Sorry,” Hope told her, carefully avoiding Lizzie’s pointed stare. This was not the time for this conversation. “I’m a little busy keeping us from being roadkill.”

“ _Projectium deflecta_ ,” she said, casting a shield over them. “That should protect us.”

Lizzie nodded, and they stepped into the street. 

Just in time for a car to come screeching around the corner and crash into them. Again.

They woke up on the same patch of grass, and while it confirmed the fact that they were unable to die, Hope realized her spell hadn’t worked.

“I don’t think we have magic here,” she told Lizzie. 

“Or you just did the spell wrong,” Lizzie snapped, placing a hand on Hope’s arm.

When there was no red-glow of her siphoning, Hope shoved her hand away. “How’s that siphoning going?”

“Okay, fine, there’s obviously no magic,” Lizzie sighed. “And we’re in some death maze from hell. And why is it... the eighties?”

As soon as she said it, Hope noticed it too. Everyone around them was dressed similarly to the woman from before, in bold colors and leather and pants that didn’t fit quite right. And the car that had hit them was _definitely_ not from this century. 

“Speaking of,” Hope said. “Have you ever played Frogger?”

Lizzie shook her head, but it didn’t matter. Hope had an idea.

° ° °

Once Hope had dried herself off, and actually managed to find some clothes that didn’t make her want to vomit, she pulled back the dressing room curtain.

Her plan had worked, but it had also resulted in them getting soaked. Go figure. 

“Acid wash is clearly your thing,” she said, eyeing the jeans and neon top Lizzie had selected for herself.

“Right?” Lizzie said, beaming at her. “You kinda look fierce too.”

“Thank you,” Hope said, admiring her own combination of an old band t-shirt, leopard-print skirt and lacy black tights. “But now we gotta get out of here.”

Lizzie nodded, and they moved towards the door. 

“Oh, my hair’s still wet!” Lizzie said, grabbing a hair dryer from the counter and plugging it in. 

Hope opened her mouth to warn her, but then sparks flew from the outlet, and they both screamed as the electricity zapped them out of existence.

“Well,” Lizzie sighed once they were back in the town square. “Should’ve seen that one coming.” 

° ° °

Professor Vardemus was giving Josie suggestions on her plan for the dance floor that evening when her dad appeared, and Josie realized that she’d forgotten to cancel their brunch plans. 

“Dad!” She said, guilt settling in her stomach. She was so busy with the preparations for the dance that she’d been bound to forget something, but still. “Hey, I’m sorry—“

“Principal Saltzman,” Vardemus said, interrupting her. “I’m afraid I must remind you that you are prohibited from being here. By court order, that is.”

What? Since when?

“Relax, Fumbledore,” her dad said, and Josie smiled under her breath. “I cleared it with the sheriff. I’m here as a concerned parent, as both my daughters recently experienced a traumatic event.”

Josie winced. She’d told her dad she was fine on the phone, but of course he hadn’t believed her.

“Ah, the Samari and the Oni demon,” Vardemus said, nodding at Josie. “Josie told me all about it.”

“I’m okay,” she told her dad, hoping he’d believe it this time since he’d been able to see her. “Thank you for checking in, but everything’s fine.”

Vardemus smirked, prompting a scowl from her dad. “Alright,” he sighed, glaring at the headmaster. “Well, what about Lizzie? She was a no-show too, so where is she?”

“She said she had an errand to run,” Josie told him. 

Her dad nodded, and she thought she might have convinced him, but then he said, “Well, I’m not going anywhere until she gets back and I know that she’s okay too.”

Wonderful.

° ° °

“A land mine? _Really?_ What’s wrong with this decade?”

“Reaganomics, recreational cocaine, _jams_ ,” Lizzie suggested, though Hope knew she was just as frustrated by their failed attempts at escaping the town square as she was.

“If only there was a secret or a clue,” Hope sighed, rubbing an aching spot at her temple. 

“Unless you see a _clue_ store around here, Hope, then I don’t think—“

Actually, Hope _did_ see a clue store, neon sign and all. Now, they’d just have to see what was inside it.

It turned out that the clue store was filled with antiques, and that the woman who’d deemed herself the Keeper was behind the counter, filing her nails.

“Oh, hey,” she said, grinning at them as she set down her nail file. “Looking for something?” 

“Yeah,” Hope said. “How do we get out of here?”

“And why are we in our grandparent’s decade?” Lizzie asked, frowning at the junk surrounding them.

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” the Keeper said, but there wasn’t much sincerity in her voice. “It’s the only decade I know. Turns out you miss a lot of pop culture when guys in black suits drop you into a giant pit of goo. As far as getting out of here goes, uh... you don’t. You play the game until my pet feeds on you, and then you die. For reals.”

Well, that was great. And whatever the woman’s _pet_ was, Hope had a feeling they didn’t want to find out. 

“This game was specially designed to kill beautiful maidens,” she continued, beaming at them as if they should be honored to be considered as such. “So, I’d say it’s a pretty good fit.”

“Oh, so glad we stopped in,” Lizzie said, rolling her eyes at Hope. “Let’s go.”

“There is one way out,” the Keeper said, moving to block their path. “One of you agrees to take my place.”

Hope froze, staring at her. This was finally getting interesting.

“You see, I was trapped here once too, just like you two,” the Keeper explained. “And I don’t really feel like being the Keeper of the Game forever, so one of you agrees to wear this bracelet, you get to be the new me, and the other one is set free.”

“Thanks,” Hope said, scowling at her. “But no thanks.” 

She stepped towards the door, but the Keeper stopped her again. “Actually,” she said, smirking at Hope as she smacked her gum. “There’s no choice. Yeah, you take the deal, or my pet kills you. That’s the endgame.”

In the distance, there was a bellowing roar, and Hope turned towards the sound.

“Speak of the Devil,” the Keeper said, her fake gasp followed by a laugh. “I love this part.”

 _This part,_ was apparently when a monster broke through the wall, plaster and wood beams flying everywhere, and crashed into the shop.

From her first glance, Hope knew what it was. The maze design on the bracelet, the fact that they couldn’t die. She should have figured it out sooner.

A minotaur. 

It growled again, preparing to charge, and Hope screamed at Lizzie to run as she turned and fled, the minotaur’s roars following them into the street.

° ° °

“Okay, I think we lost him,” Hope said, poking her head out from behind the tree as the minotaur ran in the opposite direction.

“At least we finally made it out of the lame town square,” Lizzie said, sighing as they headed further into the woods. “No thanks to you, Captain almost stepped on the land mine again.” 

“You killed us with a hair dryer,” Hope reminded her. “Never forget.”

“The school’s up this way,” she added, ignoring Lizzie’s eyeroll, pointing to a spot in the distance.

“If only there was something to talk about on the way,” Lizzie said, glaring at Hope. “A burning question, some mysterious choice that demanded an explanation.”

“Okay, fine,” Hope sighed, knowing Lizzie wouldn’t drop it until Hope offered some sort of explanation. “I _was_ gonna tell everyone that I was back. But then I saw Landon and Josie, and how _happy_ they were. It seemed like you were all better off without me.”

“What is wrong with you?” Lizzie demanded, and she stopped walking to turn and face Hope. “Do you really have that much of a martyr complex that you couldn’t just, oh I don’t know, _ask_ one of us how we were doing?”

Okay, she might have a point there. But it wasn’t that simple.

“Look, I know that it seems kind of—“

“Dumb?” Lizzie said, interrupting her. “Selfish? Controlling?”

“Painful,” she finished for her, glaring at Lizzie. Did she think this was how Hope had _wanted_ her life to go? 

Lizzie’s anger disappeared, and when she met Hope’s gaze there was enough emotion in her eyes that Hope felt her own anger fade. “No one’s been better off without you,” she said, and Hope couldn’t help the rush of relief the words triggered. How long had she been waiting to hear someone say that to her?

“Josie is just filling a void left by _you_ ,” Lizzie said, and Hope tried not to cling to those words, refused to acknowledge the flicker of hope in her chest. Still, if Lizzie believed it, it had to be somewhat true, didn’t it?

“My dad is lonely, Raf’s a mess again, and apparently I’m hallucinating boyfriends,” she continued. “If my broken mind can remember you, then maybe that spell Josie did could bring everyone’s memories back. You and Josie are _made_ for each other, which is why you need to tell her and Landon the truth before they do the deed.”

And, they were back here again. Though, she had to admit, it was nice to know Lizzie didn’t resent her for liking Josie. In the beginning, Hope knew it had bothered her, so she was happy they’d been able to move past it. And flattered that Lizzie thought she was good enough for Josie. 

Lizzie started walking again, and Hope followed, mulling over what she’d said. Maybe... maybe she did have a point. It was a logical argument, except for one piece of information.

“You hallucinated a boyfriend?”

Lizzie sighed, glaring at her, but she was prevented from responding by the darts that lodged themselves in their necks. 

“Tell you in a second,” she said, her eyes rolling back into her head as she crumpled to the ground. 

Hope felt whatever drug the dart had been laced with take hold of her, and then she was unsconscious. 

° ° °

Josie was standing in front of her mirror, trying on dresses for the dance, when her dad entered the room. 

“No, I haven’t seen Lizzie,” she told him, barely paying attention as she admired the white dress she’d selected. “She’s probably still out buying her Jane Fonda leotard.”

“You voted for me to leave.”

When she heard those words, Josie’s blood immediately went cold, the knot in her stomach she’d been ignoring since the vote tightening to the point of pain. _Shit_.

How had he found out?

Logically, she’d known the truth would come out eventually, that there was no way to keep it a secret forever. She’d just hoped it wouldn’t be for a very, very long time.

“Why?”

Josie turned, and she almost flinched at the anguished expression on his face. He looked as if she’d betrayed him, which she supposed she had. 

“Because it’s what you wanted,” she said. “Dad, you put it to a vote. You knew that this place shouldn’t be run by a human anymore, but you couldn’t bring yourself to leave. So, you had us make that choice for you.”

“That sounds like something your mother would say,” he said, sighing as he studied her.

“She also said that your dream was to create a place where we could learn to be ourselves, to be safe,” Josie said, needing him to understand she hadn’t voted him out because she thought he didn’t care about his students, or that he would ever want to hurt them. “You’ve done that. So, now we have to move on to the next chapter of our lives. We have to learn to do this without you.” 

And that was all true, but she knew there was one more reason she’d cast her vote the way she did. 

“Dad,” she said, fighting back the tears that rose to the surface, the relief at the prospect of not having to keep this secret anymore. “I voted you out so you could have your own life. Start dating, start letting us go. Because we’re fine. Because of you.”

Her dad chuckled, smiling at her as Josie wiped a tear from her cheek. “Definitely that one,” he said, gesturing to the dress in her hands.

“Yeah?” She asked, holding it up, grinning back at him. “I picked out an outfit for you too.”

“Oh, yeah?” He said, and he looked almost nervous.

Josie laughed, and when she saw the warm expression on her dad’s face, she knew she didn’t have to worry about him forgiving her. She’d made the right choice, and she knew it had been worth it. 

They were going to be fine. 

° ° °

“I know you don’t want to think about this, but the real world isn’t resetting like this stupid one is,” Lizzie reminded her as they walked through the woods, having recovered from their death-by-darts experience. “Which means, we are rapidly approaching Josie’s unexpected journey there and back again.”

Okay, Hope _really_ didn’t like the images Lizzie’s words were putting into her head. 

“I’m not gonna tell them about me,” Hope told her as they hopped over a bear trap.

“Ugh, why not?” Lizzie groaned, rolling her eyes.

“Because it’s not gonna change anything.”

“It would change _everything_ ,” Lizzie insisted, ducking as an arrow shot through the air and pierced the bark of a tree in front of them. 

“No, it won’t,” Hope countered, though a part of her knew Lizzie was unlikely to change her mind on this. “When I saw that portal, I knew there was only one way to stop the monsters from coming. I’m just gonna have to jump back in and close it. Everyone’s just gonna forget me all over again.”

“I was created to be the loophole that ends Malivore,” Hope explained, praying that Lizzie would understand. “It’s the only reason I exist. It’s my destiny.”

Lizzie sighed, staring at her, and she looked as if she was about to argue, but that’s when they heard the minotaur roaring in the distance.

It burst through the trees, and her and Lizzie started running, dodging the arrows that sprung up from the ground at their feet as they crossed the field.

“Come on!” Lizzie screamed, gesturing towards a line of bushes at the treeline. “The school should be right through here.”

They pushed through the bushes, but there was no Salvatore School. 

They were back in the town square.

“Oh, hey,” said the Keeper, and Hope and Lizzie turned to find her jogging towards them in a pink jazzercise outfit. “Ready to take that deal yet?”

Lizzie glared at her, practically snarling as she said, “I’m ready to take this maze and shove it up your—“

“Maze?” The Keeper said, interrupting her. “Oh no, this isn’t a maze, it’s a labyrinth. Know the difference?”

“Do I look like a nerd?” Lizzie asked, and Hope decided it wasn’t the time to mention that she knew she’d binge-watched the Lord of the Rings at least three times.

“A maze has multiple paths, a labyrinth only has one,” Hope clarified, realizing what the Keeper was trying to tell them.

There really was only one way out. 

“Exactly,” said the Keeper, beaming at her again with that infuriating expression of satisfaction. “As I said before, there’s only one way this is going to end.”

“Granted her legs are amazing, but she is a royal bitch,” Lizzie said as the woman walked away from them. “What are we gonna do?” 

“We take the deal,” Hope told her, and Lizzie flinched, turning to look at her. “And I stay behind.”

“It has to be me,” she insisted at Lizzie’s furious expression. “I’ll take her place and then you can be set free.”

“See?” Lizzie asked, shaking her head at her in disbelief. “Capital “M” martyr complex, Hope.”

“The minotaur travels with the Keeper, right?” Hope said, and it was like the puzzle pieces fell into place. “So if I stay behind, it’ll be trapped with me. And since the monsters only come one at a time, no other monsters ever will.”

It was the perfect plan, and she was the only person who could do it. Lizzie had to understand that.

“Besides, it’s not like anyone’s gonna know I’m gone,” she said, sighing as she met Lizzie’s gaze. “Except you.”

° ° °

Josie knew that all of her hard work was worth it when she saw the expression on Landon’s face. 

She’d worn the dress her dad had selected, a sleek, simple white piece with a matching shawl, and teased her hair into ringlets before tucking a pink flower behind her ear and painting her lips to match.

“Hi,” Landon said, still staring at her as if he couldn’t quite believe she was real. 

“Hi,” she breathed, smiling at him. Landon was wearing a denim-button up and an orange vest, and he looked... cute.

“Uh,” he stammered, and Josie had to admit, it was flattering to see how flustered he was. “You look amazing.”

“Thank you,” she said. “So do you.”

“Thank you,” he repeated, and that’s when Josie noticed the corsage in his hand. 

He fumbled with the container, and Josie laughed. “What did you get up to today?”

“Oh, you know, a little bit of this, a little bit of that,” he said, tugging the corsage onto her wrist, apologizing as it got caught on her fingers. “You okay? You seem—“

“Yeah,” she said, nodding at him. “I was with my dad, it’s fine now.”

Landon smiled, but it looked more like a wince. “Are you okay?” She asked. “You seem... fidgety.”

“I’m just excited,” he said, though he was still kind of shaking. 

“Landon,” she said, suddenly realizing what this was about. “You know that we don’t have to dance tonight if you don’t want to.”

“Really?” He asked, followed by a sigh of relief. “Okay, cool.”

“Yeah,” she told him, though she felt a flicker of disappointment in her chest. 

But Landon paused, suddenly looking more panicked then before. “We also totally don’t have to have sex tonight. In case your use of dancing wasn’t a metaphor.”

“It was,” she assured him, laughing when he went red.

“You’re special,” he said after a moment, grabbing her hand. “So, I want it to be special. That moment when we both look at each other, and we both know.”

“That sounds nice,” she said.

“Let’s just enjoy the dance,” he said, taking her arm in his. 

“Yeah, dance is that way,” Josie told him, gesturing in the opposite direction. 

“Oh, right. I knew that.”

° ° °

“I get why you think you need to take the deal though,” Lizzie said, and Hope stopped sharpening the stick she was holding into a stake to look at her. “I exist for one reason, too. Merge with my sister, that’s our destiny, right? Unless, I stayed here in a no-magic zone. Maybe the merge wouldn’t have to happen and Josie would be safe.”

She had to give Lizzie credit for using Josie’s safety as a selling point, but she was mad if she thought Hope would agree to any plan that involved her taking that deal.

“There’s no way I’m gonna let you do that.”

“I know,” Lizzie sighed, glaring at her with a combination of irritation and fondness.

Hope reached down to pick up another stick, but there was a sharp burst of pain in the back of her skull, and then everything went dark. 

° ° °

When Hope woke up, shoving off the branches Lizzie had presumably used to cover her, she realized this was the second time in two days that she’d been knocked unconscious.

If this kept happening, she’d really need to find herself some new friends. 

She winced, clutching at the back of her head as it throbbed in pain. She didn’t think Lizzie had even hit her hard enough to kill her, only to knock her out. 

_Lizzie_.

Crap, she needed to find her. Now, before she took that deal.

In the distance, the minotaur roared, and Hope grabbed one of their makeshift stakes off of the ground just as the monster charged through the trees.

She braced herself to strike, but before she could the minotaur screeched and fell to the forest floor, an arrow protruding from its back.

And when she looked up, Lizzie was standing there, bow in hand. 

“Where did you get that?” Hope asked, relief flooding her when she noticed Lizzie’s bare wrist. 

“I have my ways,” Lizzie said, smirking at her as she stalked across the clearing. 

“I thought you were taking the deal!”

“I realized it would be perpetuating the patriarchy,” Lizzie told her. “There’s always someone telling women they only exist for one reason. We even told it to ourselves. I am done playing that game.”

Hope smiled at her, staring at the minotaur at their feet as it groaned.

“Screw endgame,” she said, and then she   
drove her stake into the monster’s head. 

° ° °

When they woke up, they were once again in the town square. But this time, it was dark outside.

And the Keeper was lying beside them.

“You found another way,” she said, staring at them in disbelief. “You killed the minotaur. Thank you.”

Hope turned to Lizzie and grinned. They’d done it.

“Not that you deserved it,” Lizzie said, rising to her feet and offering the woman a hand. “And you definitely don’t deserve this.”

The Keeper sighed, smiling as she took Lizzie’s hand.

“We’ve had enough of women hurting other women for one day,” Lizzie told her, turning to Hope as she finished, an invitation in her eyes. 

And this time, when they stepped into the street, there was no car to stop them as they ran towards the Salvatore School.

° ° °

The music started to slow, the lights fading from green to blue, and Josie was pleasantly surprised when Landon took her hand and pulled her body against his.

Josie leaned in, resting her head on his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around him. 

In her chest, there was the ghost of something warm, a heat she hadn’t felt since Penelope had left, and she pulled back to look at Landon.

There was beat of silence, a moment where she stopped listening to the music and it felt like they were the only two people in the entire world. Then, Landon asked, “Do you maybe want to dance somewhere else?”

“Only if that’s a metaphor,” she said, her heart fluttering in her chest. 

He nodded, and then his lips were pressed against hers. She ran her fingers through his hair, heat pooling her stomach, and she realized this was what Landon had been talking about.

This was the moment she looked at him, and she knew. 

° ° °

There’d been a moment where Hope had thought that everything was going to work out.

She and Lizzie had sprinted from the town square, anticipation and anxiety fluttering in her chest, like a bird trying to escape it’s cage. She’d felt almost giddy, as if she was just another teenage girl high on love and and the illusion of things like fate and _destiny_ , like this was the ending of a movie and she was the protagonist, racing to find their true love at the airport before their flight took off. 

That was before she saw Josie and Landon kissing on the dance floor. 

It wasn’t the sight of them wrapped in each other’s arms that made her feel like her heart had been ripped from her chest, it was the look on their faces.

As if they were the only two people in the world.

Almost as if it was a dream, she watched as Landon took Josie’s hand and led her away from the dance floor. 

“Hurry,” Lizzie said, tugging at her arm. “We can still stop them.”

They could. But should they?

“Wait,” Hope said, pulling her back. 

“For what?” Lizzie asked, clearly confused. 

“We have to let them go,” she told her, ignoring the pain in her chest.

“Are you sure?” Lizzie said, and Hope could tell that she wanted to argue, but that she would also respect her choice if Hope asked her to. 

Hope nodded. This was the right thing to do, she knew that. Even if it hurt.

She had to let Josie go. 

° ° °

As soon as they’d left the dance, Landon had pulled Josie into an empty hallway, his lips barely leaving hers as they’d made their way to her dorm room, as if he was afraid she might slip through his fingers if he let go.

He fumbled with the door handle, her back against the wood, and then they were inside. Josie slipped her shoes off as they walked backwards towards the bed, Landon’s lips still on her’s.

She waved a hand in the air, and the door slammed shut on a gust of wind.

_God, she was glad she’d asked Lizzie to stay at their Dad’s tonight._

Her shawl fell to the floor, and then they were on the bed, Landon on top of her as she yanked his vest off of his shoulders. She laughed when he struggled with it, the sound an echo of the warmth in her chest, and she smiled when he started kissing her again. 

“You sure you want to do this?” She asked him, because she needed to be sure she wasn’t pressuring him into anything. It wasn’t like this was her first time having sex, even if she’d never done it with a guy before.

“I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life,” he told her, and Josie grinned up at him, running a hand over his cheek. 

“Do you have a condom?” She asked, murmuring the words between kisses.

But Landon froze, and the answer was clearly _no_.

He jumped off of the bed, frantic as he moved towards the door, promising that he’d be right back and _don’t move_.

And just like that, Josie was left alone. 

° ° °

Hope and Lizzie were sipping punch from plastic cups on the side of the dance floor, the Decade Dance still in full swing around them.

Needless to say, Hope wasn’t in much of a party mood.

“I don’t get it,” Lizzie said, frowning at Hope. “We literally killed ourselves to get back here, and you couldn’t go through with it.”

“What you said before, about destiny,” Hope said, meeting Lizzie’s stare. “You were right. You know, Josie and Landon... they look happy together. Maybe there isn’t only one way everything has to happen. We don’t exist for just one path.”

She was surprised to find that she meant it. Maybe it was easier right now, to say those words while she was high off of killing the minotaur and hurting from seeing Landon and Josie together, but... she meant it. 

“And we don’t exist for just one girl,” Lizzie told her, raising her glass.

Hope knocked her cup against Lizzie’s, grinning at her. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed simple human interaction, but standing in the gym, surrounded by people dancing and laughing and having fun, she wanted it too. She’d _earned_ it. 

“Let’s dance,” she said, throwing her head back and draining her cup.

“Anything to keep me from picturing Josie’s tragic visit to the shire,” Lizzie said, and Hope laughed. 

They slipped through the crowd and onto the dance floor, but Lizzie grabbed her hand and pulled her back. 

“Hey,” she said, sounding almost nervous. “If you tell this to anyone, I will deny it, but I’m glad to have you back.”

Hope beamed, her heart warming at the words, and then Lizzie held out her arms and pulled her into a hug. 

° ° °

Josie was lying on her bed, waiting for Landon, when the stupid rats started scratching again. 

She groaned, heaving herself off of the bed and onto the floor. 

“I have been listening to your tiny little rat claws for _months_ now,” she said, peering under the bed.

And that’s when she found the source of that terrible scratching noise. It wasn’t rats, it was Penlope’s journal, lying on the ground where she’d left it four months ago. When she’d still been unable to look at it without flinching. 

She pulled the journal out from under the bed, realizing that the scratching wasn’t the sound of rat claws against wood, but of pen against paper. She opened the red leather cover, flipping through countless entries from the students Penelope had given her spelled pens to, unaware their private thoughts were being recorded. 

She stopped when she reached a page with her handwriting. And when she saw who the letter was addressed to.

_Dear Hope,_

_Consider this my second attempt at writing you a love letter. I never should have said what I did at the pageant. You’re not heartless, and I know that the only reason you push people away is because you’re scared of losing them. The truth is, I was jealous of you and Roman. It’s stupid, I know, but I used Penelope because I knew that it would hurt you. I’m sorry. I don’t know if you can forgive me, but I’m tired of running away from this. From us. I like you, Hope. As more than a friend. Meet me at the docks after class, and I promise I’ll tell you everything._

_Josie._

It was her handwriting, her signature. And yet she had no memory of writing it. 

Which meant she had been right, and Hope wasn’t who she said she was.

So, who was she?

° ° °

After dancing with Lizzie, Hope left the school, heading into the woods and back to the town square. She and Lizzie had argued, but Hope had convinced her to allow her to spend the night in the town square and keep an eye on the portal. 

She pasted the mill, the sound of drunken teenagers reaching her through the trees, and that’s when she heard someone call her name.

“Hope!” 

It was Maya, dressed in eighties fashion and surrounded by a crowd of Mystic Falls High School students. She was waving at Hope, frantically gesturing at her to join them. When Hope shook her head, Maya rolled her eyes and bounded towards her.

“Hope!” She squealed, giggling as she reached Hope and pulled her into a hug. She smelled like cheap beer, her skin sticky with sweat, but underneath there was still the pleasant scent of her perfume. “I’m so happy I found you. I tried to text you and tell you we were planning on crashing the Decade Dance, but then I realized I don’t even have your number and—“

“Maya, what are you doing here?” Hope sighed, unable to even be annoyed by how tipsy she was. It was adorable, if she was being honest. Maya was always so put together, it was nice to see her a little disheveled.

Maya rolled her eyes, as if it was obvious. “I told you, we’re crashing. Now, _come on_ —“

She tugged on Hope’s hand, pulling her towards the mill, an impressive amount of strength behind the gesture given her current state. 

“Maya, I really can’t—“

“Oh, no,” Maya snapped, whirling around to face her. “You are not bailing on me _again,_ Hope. Party with us. You’ll have fun, I promise.”

When Hope hesitated, Maya started to pout. “Please,” she whined, tugging on Hope’s hand, which she still hadn’t let go of. “Consider it your way of getting back in my good graces after you missed the pep rally.”

Hope sighed, shaking her head. What the hell? She’d earned a little fun, hadn’t she? 

“Alright, fine. What are we drinking?”

° ° °

The door to her bedroom opened, and Josie heard Landon say something, but she couldn’t bring herself to move.

 _I like you, Hope. As more than a friend._

“Hey,” Landon said, and she vaguely recognized the crinkling of the condom in his hand as he stuffed it into his pocket. “Is everything okay?”

“Would you be mad if I told you that I wanted to wait?” She asked, hoping that he couldn’t see the tears in her eyes. 

“No,” Landon said, his eyes wide as he sat down on the bed beside her. “Not at all.”

“I’m sorry I just—“ she said, stopping before she could finish. How the hell did she explain this?

“It doesn’t matter,” Landon told her, and she felt an instant rush of relief. “Whatever it is, if you’re not ready for it neither am I.”

What would she have said anyway?

_I found a diary entry from five months ago in the journal my ex-girlfriend left me, and I think I was in love with Hope, the girl I met three days ago for what I thought was the first time in my life. So, I think we should wait on the whole sex thing._

Yeah, no. Not that. 

“We have all the time in the world, Josie,” he said, moving a piece of hair behind her ear. “Nothing’s gonna change that.”

He pressed a kiss to her cheek, and Josie did her best to smile at him past the tears in her eyes.

“Do you want a cup of tea?” He asked, and she nodded, the urge to be alone suddenly overwhelming. 

She didn’t know what she was going to do, but she had a horrible feeling that Landon was wrong. Something was going to change because of this.

She just hoped that it wasn’t them. 

° ° °

An hour later, and Hope was officially tipsy. 

It had started with a beer, then whatever toxic concoction Maya had created at the bar and forced her to try, and had ended with two rounds of tequila shots. If it wasn’t for her Tribrid tolerance, she’d be on the floor right now.

Honestly, it was a miracle Maya was still standing. 

“See?” Maya asked, weaving through the crowd on her way back from the bar, a grin on her face as she moved to stand at Hope’s side. “Isn’t this fun?”

Hope rolled her eyes, but she didn’t try and hide her smile. She _was_ having fun, and it felt great. 

Maya smirked at her, sensing defeat. “Well, it looks like I’ve finally corrupted you, Marshall. If only Ethan was here to see it, he’d owe me fifty bucks.”

“You bet on me?” Hope asked, too amused to be angry. But then, she saw the sadness tinting Maya’s features, and all of the snarky comments she’d been considering vanished from her mind. “I’m sorry, I—“

“Stop,” Maya said, shaking her head. “You don’t need to apologize. And I don’t want to talk about my brother. Not right now.”

It took Hope a second to recognize the double meaning to her words, to see the hazy desire in Maya’s eyes as she shifted closer, not even trying to hide the fact that she was staring at Hope’s lips. Oh. 

“God, I want to kiss you,” she said, her voice a heated, lazy rasp, the confidence a side effect of the tequila lowering her inhibitions. Hope somehow knew that if Maya looked at anyone else the way she was looking at her right now, they wouldn’t have to think about kissing her. They’d just do it. 

“What’s stopping you?” Hope asked, the words spilling from her lips before she could think twice about them. It was a mistake, she knew that. But it was late, and she was drunk and giddy and _tired_ , and Josie was probably lying somewhere in a bed with Landon right now.

Maya stiffened, a breath away from  
Hope’s lips, as if she hadn’t considered what she would do if Hope said yes. “What about J—“

She knew what Maya was about to say.

_What about Josie?_

But Hope was tired of thinking about Josie. She was tired of thinking about everything, really.

So, she decided to stop thinking, and before Maya could finish saying Josie’s name, she kissed her.


	6. i’ll be your shelter, i’ll be your armor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If Hope knew one thing about family, it was that they fought for each other.
> 
> Perhaps that was the problem. She hadn’t fought for Josie, not like she should have. She’d let her fear, her inability to believe that Josie might actually choose her over Landon, to blind her to what really mattered.
> 
> She’d been wrong. About everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey loves!! sorry for the long break between updates, life’s been crazy lately (as you can probably guess). hope you enjoy this chapter! pls let me know what you think :)

It was a good thing that her mother was still in Europe, because if she knew that Josie had lied to her dad about going on a community service retreat so that she could take a bus to New Orleans, and that she was now sitting in a bar on Bourbon Street, Josie would be dead. 

It was, however, a necessary part of her plan. She’d even ordered a Shirley Temple, though the bartender hadn’t seemed to care if she was of age or not. 

“And how old are you claiming to be?” 

Josie had been expecting her, but the arrival of Freya Mikaelson still managed to startle her. “Twenty-one... ish,” she answered, painfully aware of how nervous she sounded, though there was no hostility in the witch’s gaze as she took the seat across from Josie.

“Relax,” she said, smirking at Josie’s choice of drink. “It’s called the Big Easy for a reason. I’m Freya. I hear you’ve been asking around the Quarter for me.”

After Josie had worked past the initial shock of finding that letter in Penelope’s diary, she’d realized that there was only one explanation for all of this.

It was obvious that she was missing a part of her memory, and there was one monster that specialized in that department, who could erase an entire person from existence. 

Malivore.

At first, she hadn’t wanted to know, had almost convinced herself to pretend that everything was fine. But then she’d read Lizzie’s last diary entry, via the enchanted pen Penelope had given her, and learned that when she’d purged the Oni from her sister’s mind it had brought back all of her missing memories. Including her memories of Hope. 

Hope Mikaelson.

Josie had stopped reading after that, having all the information she needed. Whoever Hope was to her, to her sister, there was only one way to find out. She had to reverse the effects of the black magic spell she’d used on Lizzie, and to do that, she needed the help of a powerful witch.

Fortunately, she’d found one who she figured would be properly motivated.

“I’m Josie,” she said, introducing herself. “I’m a student at the Salvatore School. Mystic Falls.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of it,” Freya said, smiling at her. “My wife’s got an eye on it for our son.”

“I kind of need your help,” Josie told her, hoping that Freya’s willingness to help her wouldn’t disappear when she told her why she was here. “There’s this spell that I’m kind of trying to reverse engineer—“

Before she could finish, Freya sighed, shaking her head. “I’m sure one of your teachers could help you with that.” 

“An ancient Japanese black magic purge spell,” Josie added, her anxiety spiking when Freya moved to leave.

She froze, leaning down to look Josie directly in the eye as she said, “Those aren’t the kind of spells school kids should be messing with. You should go home.”

“Wait,” Josie said, raising her voice as Freya walked away from her. It was time for Plan B, a gamble she’d taken when she’d searched for the name _Mikaelson_ in the school database. “You have photos in your home of someone you don’t recognize. Feels like you should know them but you don’t.”

Freya turned around slowly, her eyes wide, and Josie felt almost proud that she’d been able to shock the witch. “How did you know that?”

“We’ve all forgotton people,” Josie said, the words catching in her throat. It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth. 

“It doesn’t matter what I say,” she continued, the tension in her chest easing when she realized that she had caught Freya’s interest. “The spell I need is the only way that you’re gonna remember for yourself.” 

° ° °

“Ow,” Hope hissed, wincing as she examined the paper cut on her ring finger, which happened to be her twelfth one this morning. 

“I have done that like five times,” she said, and Ethan, who was paper-macheing cornucopias beside her, laughed. “Is it possible to die from a paper cut?”

“Careful,” he said, grinning at her. “That’s the best arm in town now.”

She laughed under her breath, even though she knew his broken arm was still a sore spot for him. She would have offered to heal him, but she couldn’t risk Maya or Ethan finding out what she was.

And... Maya.

She’d been trying to avoid thinking about her, about that damn kiss, but so far she was failing miserably. Especially since it was Maya who’d signed her up to volunteer at Commonwealth Day, and was now nowhere to be found. Ethan had said that she wasn’t feeling well, but Hope couldn’t help but wonder if Maya was avoiding her. 

Maybe she was embarrassed about kissing her, even if she didn’t have to be. Hope hadn’t objected, hell she’d _encouraged_ it, and they’d been drunk. That’s all it was. 

At least, that’s what she kept telling herself. 

“Here,” Ethan said, pulling Hope from her thoughts as he reached for her hand. “Let me see.”

His fingers were warm against hers as he examined the invisible cut. They locked eyes, and she would be lying if she didn’t see the invitation there, the playfulness. In the back of her mind, Hope knew that she shouldn’t be doing this. She’d just made out with his sister the night before, and even if she hadn’t, getting close to people like this was a bad idea. And yet, she couldn’t seem to help herself, could she? 

“Yeah, it’s fatal,” Ethan said, and Hope smirked at his mocking tone.

“Hey! You two!“

Hope turned, and realized that the man standing in the square, wearing a suit that was far too warm for the Virginia heat, was talking to them. 

“Quit slacking,” he snapped, scowling at their joined hands. “Tomorrow’s festivities will not be thrown off by hormonal teenagers.” 

“Sure thing, councilman,” Ethan said, along with that easygoing smile of his, which was apparently enough to convince the man to leave them alone.

“Ruined by an old white guy politician though?” He muttered under his breath as the man walked away, and Hope chuckled. “Totally plausible. How did that guy win an election?”

“Democracy isn’t what it used to be,” Hope answered, moving around him to grab some more strips of newspaper. 

Ethan smiled at her, but then he sighed and grabbed his duffel bag from under the table. “Hey, I gotta head to practice.”

“But you’re hurt,” Hope said, frowning at the cast on his wrist. 

“I can still help the team win,” he explained, hefting the bag onto his shoulder. 

“Gotcha,” she said, though she personally didn’t understand the dynamics of high school football. She did admire his determination, though. “See you after?”

“Not unless you’re coming to physical therapy with me,” he said, grimacing at her. “My life’s a real party these days.”

Hope sighed, turning back to the table, but then Ethan said, “I don’t know what’s going on between you and my sister, but if you ever want to see me, you should probably just ask me out.”

He didn’t give Hope a chance to respond, which was probably good because she would have had no idea what to say, but she couldn’t help the smile that appeared on her face as he walked away. 

The strange, giddy sensation in her chest vanished, however, when she felt a hand grab her ankle. She jumped, whirling around, only to find Lizzie Saltzman looking up at her from under the table.

“Don’t “guh” me,” she said, as if Hope was the one who’d ambushed her. “Get your ass under here!”

Hope sighed, rolling her eyes as she lifted the table cloth and slipped underneath, only to find Lizzie sitting on the ground next to the Malivore portal.

“What are you doing?” She demanded, because this was a little much, even for Lizzie.

“Looking for you,” she explained, as if it was obvious. “You were supposed to be keeping an eye on the portal to Malivore.”

“I’m literally on top of it,” Hope said, gesturing to the puddle of mud between them. 

“Not on top of it enough,” Lizzie said, glaring at her. “A zombie snuck onto campus this morning.” 

“I mean are you sure it’s from the portal?” Hope asked, wracking her brain for a moment when she’d stepped away from it and coming up empty. “I’ve been here all night!”

“It has the mark of Malivore carved into its skull, it’s obviously from the portal,” Lizzie said, though her tone went from annoyed to teasing as she continued. “Maybe you were too busy flirting with the _Muggle_ —“

“I wasn’t flirting,” Hope snapped, relieved that she’d decided not to tell Lizzie about her and Maya. She’d never hear the end of it. “I was blending in.”

“Hey, by all means, flirt away,” Lizzie told her, shrugging as she smirked at Hope. “The faster you get over Josie, the sooner I can stop worrying about her happiness.”

Right. Josie. 

She’d actually been doing a relatively good job of not thinking about her, distracting herself with Ethan and Commonwealth Day, but she should have known she couldn’t avoid the subject forever.

“We locked the zombie up,” Lizzie continued, not noticing or choosing to ignore Hope’s sudden mood change. “Which means no more portal duty is required, and you and I can hang out today.”

“Why is that last part harder for me to understand than all the rest?” Hope asked, because while she appreciated Lizzie wanting to spend time with her, the concept was still a little strange. 

“If I spend any time with Josie, I will inevitably blow your secret,” Lizzie explained. “You wanna protect her from heartbreak, you’re stuck with me.” 

“Okay,” Hope sighed. She did want to protect Josie, and spending time with Lizzie was far from the worst thing in the world, but it almost felt as if this was all for nothing. 

Secrets had a way of getting out, and she couldn’t help but think that it was only a matter of time before Lizzie spilled her’s. 

° ° °

Josie had made the right choice when she’d decided to find Freya in New Orleans. It took a few hours, but they had finally managed to translate the black magic spell she’d used on Lizzie. 

“In this spell, conviction matters,” Freya said as she wrote the incantation onto a piece of paper. “You need to be clear of mind and purpose. If not, instead of purging the supernatural influence in the mind, you’ll end up solidifying it, making it permanent.” 

“Is that as bad as it sounds?”

“You’d erase the very memories you’re trying to bring back,” she explained, and Josie chose to ignore the unspoken question in her eyes. “How did you even find this spell?” 

“I siphoned it from an ancient sword to save my sister’s life,” she told her, choosing her words carefully, like she had been all evening. “Weird story short, I read in this diary how it returned all of her memories somehow.”

Nevermind that Lizzie hadn’t thought to mention it to her. Josie would be lying if she said that hadn’t hurt.

Freya raised her eyebrows, though Josie doubted it was the craziest story she’d heard as a French Quarter witch. “Magic and privacy don’t mix well,” was all she said, and Josie sighed her agreement.

Freya’s phone rang, and Josie didn’t miss the way she smiled when she checked the caller ID. “It’s my wife. She’s on Nik duty tonight, our kid. Excuse me.”

As she walked away, Josie closed the grimoire they’d been working out of and stood from her place at the bar. It’s patrons had left hours ago, but she could still hear the sound of the revelers in the streets. She turned, and that’s when she noticed the wall of photos next to the bar. Specifically, the photo of Freya... and Hope.

In the photo, Freya’s arms were around her, and they were both laughing. Hope looked younger than she did now, and she looked... happy. Happier than Josie had ever seen her during their brief encounters.

She hadn’t allowed herself to think about the letter she’d found, refusing to acknowledge what it meant. That she hadn’t just known Hope, but that she might have loved her. As more than a friend. 

Did she even _want_ to know? 

It was the question she’d been asking herself all day. Should she bring everyone’s memories back, even if it meant risking her relationship with Landon? Freya had said that the spell required conviction, but Josie still didn’t know if she even wanted to remember the girl in the photograph. 

“Who is she?”

Josie turned around, and found Freya glaring at her from her place at the bar, arms crossed. “I knew you were hiding something from me,” she said, taking a step towards Josie. “So tell me, how is it we both forgot the same person?”

Josie opened her mouth, a lie already on her lips, even though she doubted Freya would believe it. She was smart, and if Josie was right in her assessment of how powerful she was, she could snap her neck with a wave of her hand.

But Freya wasn’t done. “And if you didn’t tell me that to begin with, I can only assume it’s because you haven’t decided what you’re going to do with that spell. Have you?”

The answer was no, but Josie didn’t feel like explaining herself.

“Who is that girl?” Freya demanded, and Josie almost wanted to scream that she _didn’t know_. Wasn’t that the point? 

But she didn’t have time to have this conversation, and if she was being honest, she didn’t want to.

Which left her with only one option. 

She siphoned the magic from the grimoire in her hands, the familiar heat almost intoxicating, and recited the very words Freya had written on that paper earlier.

Every spell needed a trial run, right?

Freya didn’t have a chance to retaliate as Josie held out her hand, blasting her with dark magic. She fell to the floor, her head slamming against the side of the bar.

When she didn’t stir, Josie sighed, taking the diary and the paper containing the spell from the bar, as well as the bag she’d stored underneath it. 

She hadn’t wanted to hurt Freya, but she knew that the witch wouldn’t have allowed her to leave with that spell otherwise. 

And she needed to get back to Mystic Falls. Now.

° ° °

“When I said that I wanted to hang out, this is _not_ what I had in mind,” Lizzie said, wrinkling her nose in disgust as she and Hope stood over the pile of flesh and guts that was the dead councilman.

After she and Lizzie had left the town square yesterday, they’d grabbed burgers and shakes at the Mystic Grill, but then Lizzie had to return to the school for class. She’d asked if Hope wanted to join her, but she’d declined. Being back at the Salvatore School was still too painful, even though Lizzie had reassured her that Josie wouldn’t be there since she was on some community service retreat for Commonwealth Day.

So, Hope had been left to her own devices, and she’d went to find Maya. She‘d gone to her house, but no one had answered the door when she’d knocked, so she’d decided to wait. Ethan had pulled up an hour later, presumably to change before going to physical therapy, confused but happy to see her. And yet, when he’d asked why she was there, she hadn’t been able to tell him the truth, so she’d invented some excuse about needing a change of clothes. It was true, but it wasn’t the real reason she’d sought Maya out. He’d been more than willing to grab them for her, so she hadn’t even gone inside.

But she was _not_ avoiding the problem. She wasn’t. Really.

Her relationship drama had taken a back seat, however, when Lizzie had called to tell her that the body of a councilman had been found in an alleyway outside the Mystic Grill.

If the mass of blood and guts could even be considered a body, that is.

“Who even _found_ him?” Hope asked, pinching her nose to ward off the stench. The buzzing of flies filled the air, and Hope decided that breathing through her mouth was the best course of action. “Or what’s left of him.”

“Alyssa Chang on her morning jog,” Lizzie answered, cringing as she studied the councilman’s remains. “Good thing, too, otherwise this place would be crawling with police. What kind of monster do you think we’re dealing with?”

It was at that moment that Hope noticed the words that had been carved into the backdoor to the Mystic Grill.

“A Croatoan,” she said, frowning at the lopsided writing, which looked disturbingly like the work of a creature’s claws. 

“How do you _know_ that?” Lizzie demanded.

“Call it a hunch,” Hope said, gesturing towards the door. 

So much for being on top of it.

° ° °

“Okay squad, we have a problem.“

As Lizzie addressed the Super Squad, Hope tried to avoid falling prey to the nostalgia of it all. Despite her protests, Lizzie had insisted that they needed help if they were going to solve their latest monster problem. Hope would have liked to disagree with her, but after seeing the councilman’s mutilated body, she’d decided that she might have a point.

So, here they were. Lizzie had convinced her to come to the Salvatore School, and was now informing Landon, Rafael, Kaleb, and his sister Kym about what she and Hope had found in the alleyway. 

“And we’re down a witch, because Josie’s in Richmond for Commonwealth Day,”  
Lizzie added, and Hope felt awful for the relief the words brought her. But at least she didn’t have to endure Landon and Josie today, on top of everything else. Even if they could have used Josie’s help with this. “Which is bad for us because—“

“A Croatoan came through the portal,” Hope finished for her. It was almost instinctual, she realized, to take charge like that. “And it killed a councilman.”

“What the hell is a Croatoan?” Kaleb asked.

To her surprise, Kym answered him. “Hold up,” she said, snapping her fingers. “The lost colony of Roanoke!”

When they all just exchanged confused looks, she sighed. “Seriously? Not one of you?”

“I’ll play,” Landon said after a moment of silence. “Roanoke. It was one of the first English settlements in North America until it just vanished without a trace.”

“And the only thing left behind was a word carved on a tree: Croatoan,” Kym explained, smirking when none of them said anything. “What? I’m a history nerd. Why else would I be here for Commonwealth Day?” 

“Uh, ignore her,” Kaleb said, rolling his eyes at his sister. “Her visitation privileges are about to be revoked.”

“The monster is here and it’s after Landon, so we need to get him somewhere safe,” Hope said, unaware that she had started giving orders again until she saw Lizzie glaring at her. 

“Okay, no offense,” Kaleb said, frowning at her. “But why is some girl from Mystic Falls giving us orders?”

“Oh, she’s a witch,” Lizzie said, at the same moment Rafael told them that she was a wolf.

_Wonderful._

“Most importantly, she knows how to kill monsters,” Landon said, saving her from an awkward explanation. 

“That’s so cool,” Kym sighed. 

“Wait, guys, what about the zombie?” Rafael asked. “I thought Malivore could only release one monster at a time.”

“Yeah, that’s what we all thought,” Hope said, before she remembered that she wasn’t supposed to know about Malivore.

“How the hell do you know about Malivore?” Kaleb demanded, giving her a suspicious once over.

“Oh, I filled her in,” Lizzie said, and Hope mentally thanked her for the save. “She took down the Oni, and she killed the Minotaur. Although, that was actually really more me.”

“Wait, there was a Minotaur?” Landon asked, perking up. If he’d seen the creature in real life, Hope doubted he would be as enthusiastic.

“Yeah, not everything’s about you,” Lizzie said, rolling her eyes at him.

Landon frowned, but Kaleb placed a hand on his shoulder and said, “Alright then, what’s the plan Miss Were-Witch?”

“The plan is that I will take Landon, put a barrier spell around him—“

Lizzie interrupted her before she could finish, and Hope didn’t miss the glare she sent her way. “What she means is that _I_ will babysit Landon while everyone else is at Commonwealth Day, while Hope does her whole monster hunting deal.”

Hope sighed. She knew Lizzie would say that she should avoid Landon so that he wouldn’t find out who she was, but she honestly didn’t trust Lizzie’s ability to keep her mouth shut. 

Hope was prevented from protesting, though, when Landon said, “That’s a great idea. And you know who should go with her? Rafael.”

He shoved Rafael towards her, and Hope glimpsed the flash of panic on his face as he skidded to a halt in front of her. There was something going on there, but she didn’t have time to figure out what it was. 

“Okay,” Hope sighed, eager to finish this meeting before any of them started asking questions. “Super Squad disassemble, or whatever?”

As the others filtered out of the gym, Lizzie turned and blocked her path. “It’s a good plan,” she said, before Hope could argue. “It keeps you as far away from Landon as possible.”

“I’m less worried about me being with Landon than I am about you blowing my secret to him,” Hope told her.

“Relax,” Lizzie said, as if Hope didn’t have just cause to be concerned. When had Lizzie _ever_ kept her mouth shut? “I’ll just ask him about Star Wars or something and then he’ll talk the whole time. You have nothing to worry about.”

That did manage to get a smile out of Hope. “Okay,” she said, sighing as Lizzie gave her a reassuring nod and left the gym.

Now, she just had to find that monster. And hope that Lizzie kept her promise.

° ° °

When Josie arrived at the bus station, the knot of anxiety and worry had curled up in her chest, making it hard to breathe.

What the hell was she going to do?

She didn’t have an answer, so she’d called the one person who she knew would be able to help.

“Hello? Who’s this?”

“Mom,” she said, tears filling her eyes at the sound of her mother’s voice. “I’m sorry to bother you so late, or early, whatever it is.”

“Josie?” Her mom asked, and Josie heard the rustling of papers, as if she had put aside whatever she was working on to talk to her. “What’s going on?”

“I’m in a situation. I found a way to bring back everyone’s Malivore memories,” Josie told her, clutching the payphone hard enough that her fingers went white. “I just think it could really hurt... people.”

 _People_ being her. Or Landon, depending on how this worked out. 

“I just don’t know what to do.”

“Where are you right now?” Her mom asked, and Josie winced. 

She hesitated, but she didn’t have enough energy to lie to her. “At a bus station in New Orleans.”

Her mother sighed, as if she’d expected that answer. “This person who could get hurt, are you talking about yourself?”

Josie gulped, her voice shaking as she said, “I found a letter I wrote in Penelope’s journal, and I think... I think I knew someone who went into Malivore. This girl. Hope. I think I might have even loved her. And I want to know the truth, I do. But I’m just afraid that if I do this spell, it will ruin everything I have with Landon.”

“Well, I think that people deserve to know the truth. That’s the only way we can make our own choices, Josie. Even if they hurt.”

“But what if it means losing someone that I love?” Josie asked, even though the ache in her chest had eased slightly. 

“If Landon loves you, Josie, then you’ll make it work,” her mom said, and Josie realized how much she missed her, her ability to make any problem seem inconsequential. “But it sounds to me like you might have already lost someone you love. Are you willing to go the rest of your life without finding out?”

Josie sighed. She knew what she had to do.

Even if it was going to hurt like hell.

° ° °

Hope had been right not to trust Lizzie. She’d allowed her to sweet-talk her into going with Rafael, but then she’d returned to find Lizzie on the verge of revealing her secret to Landon. 

“You were gonna tell Landon everything!” She yelled, whirling on Lizzie as they entered the gym. “We had a deal.”

“Well, things changed,” Lizzie said, crossing her arms. “Josie and Landon didn’t have sex, which means you can still tell her the truth.”

“Wait? What?“ Hope snapped, even though her heart was suddenly pounding. 

Josie and Landon _hadn’t_ had sex. She’d be lying if she said it wasn’t a relief. 

Lizzie shushed her, motioning for her to be quiet as she shut the door. “Be surprised quietly. There’s still a monster chasing us, remember?”

Hope had forgotten about the Croatoan, but she was reminded a moment later when it’s arm reached through the gap in the door, claws scraping against the glass.

Lizzie screamed, abandoning the door as she ran to Hope’s side. “On second thought, be as loud as you want. ‘Cause we are so screwed.”

“It feeds on secrets, right?” Hope asked as the Croatoan struggled with the handle. “So, let me have it. All of it.”

“I’d prefer to die with dignity,” Lizzie said, even as the Croatown finally managed to get the door opened. 

“Okay, fine, I’ll start,” Hope said, wracking her brain for any secret she’d kept from Lizzie. “I stole your jade butterfly clip in fifth grade.”

“I loved that clip!” Lizzie gasped, glaring at her.

“Well, I had a crush on Josie for a week when we were fourteen,” Hope said, though she wasn’t sure if that counted as a secret.

“That doesn’t count, Mikaelson!” Lizzie snapped. “You two already dated, having a crush on her is kind of a given.”

The reached the other side of the gym, their backs slamming into the exercise equipment. “Uh, Lizzie?” Hope said, eyeing the Croatoan. “Focus.”

“Okay, I accidentally killed your hamster. I siphoned you to cheat on finals,” she said, and Hope gasped, glaring at her. “And I actually think you’re kind of cool!”

Okay, that last one was kind of sweet, but it didn’t matter. The Croatoan was still approaching them, and these secrets weren’t satisfying it. “Okay, it’s not working,” Hope said, cringing as the creature unraveled it’s limbs into the air. “It’s not gonna stop until everyone knows the secret we’ve been keeping from them. That I’m back.”

“I’m back, too.”

The monster faded from Hope’s mind when she heard Josie’s voice, and vanished entirely when she stepped into the gym.

She was wearing a bright yellow button-up shirt and bell bottom jeans, her hair straight for a change, and Hope couldn’t help but think that she looked beautiful in the afternoon sunlight streaming through the windows.

Then, the Croatoan turned towards her, and Hope opened her mouth to cast a protection spell when Josie started chanting in Japanese. 

A moment later, the black magic poured out of her. It was like a smoke screen, passing through the Croatoan and over Hope and Lizzie’s heads. 

And then, the magic receded, disappearing back into Josie’s hands. She jerked backward, her intake of breath sharp as the darkness hit her. Her eyes went wide, her brow furrowed, and when she met Hope’s stare there was recognition in her gaze. And that’s when she realized what Josie had done.

She’d brought her memories back. _All_ of their memories. 

Hope didn’t see Josie fall, but then she was on the ground. She should have rushed to check on her, but she stayed where she was, even as Lizzie screamed Josie’s name.

Josie had her memories now, but would she still want to be with Hope when she remembered who she was to her?

° ° ° 

The memories returned in flashes.

First, she stood outside of the school as her dad introduced her to a girl with auburn curls and freckles and eyes that sparkled like sapphires. 

_She’s gonna be staying with us for a while,_ he said, and Josie smiled at her, even as Lizzie glowered at the comforting hand their dad put on her shoulder.

She was yanked from that memory and into the next one. The girl was still there, but she was older. She was screaming at Alaric in the school library, tears streaming down her face as she gestured to a book lying open on the table. The room began to shake, and the memory faded, but not before Josie glimpsed the title on the page. 

_Klaus Mikaelson. The Great Evil._

A teasing smirk from the girl in the hallway between classes, Josie’s own smile tentative even as the butterflies in her stomach started fluttering. 

_God, you’re so obsessed with her._

_How could I be obsessed with someone who says such mean stuff about my twin?_

The words were heated, and dangerous, but they didn’t compare to the flames that engulfed the next portion of her memories. The guilt that settled in her stomach was painful, and the girl was glaring at her through the window, a burnt canvas in her hands and any sense of friendliness in her eyes doused along with the fire.

The following memories were drained of warmth. A hateful smirk following a slight made against her and Lizzie in class, a heated glare from across a crowded room, a screaming match between the girl and Lizzie that made the floor tremble beneath Josie’s feet. 

The next memory, however, was different. The heat had returned, with the girl’s hands in hers and magic on their lips. 

_I’m just looking for a kindred spirit in revenge._

The silver chain of a necklace, it’s charm smooth against her dirt-covered fingertips, the panic in her heart fading as she clutched it to her chest.

_What’s it supposed to do?_

_Make quiet things heard._

The heat in her soul became overwhelming, the memories returning in a reel of sounds and images too fast for Josie to keep up with, as if the floodgates to her mind had been opened. 

There was a breath of laughter against her skin, the comforting warmth of someone’s body against her’s, and Josie’s own voice whispering the words, _I like you happy._

The cool mist of the lake in the morning, blow after blow settled against her skin by a wooden staff before she misstepped and fell. Then, someone was standing over her, a hand outstretched to help her up, their voice thick with amusement. 

_Need some help there, Jo?_

The slam of her door against it’s hinges, the startling heat of desire in her chest, and then those auburn curls were spread across her sheets as the girl pressed kisses into Josie’s neck. 

Then there was a different brand of heat, made of anger and wicked jealousy. Miss Mystic Falls, and the screaming match that had followed. 

_You didn’t have to go with_ her _._

_What was I supposed to do!? Wait on the sidelines while you flirted with your ex-boyfriend?_

_You could have talked to me, Josie._

And, then...

_And me? What about me, Hope?_

_I’m doing this for you, Josie. For everyone. Once Malivore’s gone, you’ll all be safe._

_Without you._

_Yes. Without me._

_It’s better this way, Jo, trust me._

_I love you, Josie._

_Promise me._

When Josie opened her eyes, her head was pounding. A combination of her hitting it against the gym floor, and of the memories still settling back into her mind. It was as if they filled the blank spaces in her head that she hadn’t even noticed were there, waiting for the memories to return. Waiting for _her._

_Hope_.

Josie needed to find her. Now. 

° ° ° 

Hope had ran from the school gym the moment she knew Josie was alright, making Lizzie promise to stay with her before she left.

She’d told herself that she had to find Landon, and kill the Croatoan before it dragged him into the depths of Malivore.

And yet, the truth was that she was terrified of what was waiting for her back at the school.

Josie remembered her now, she remembered _everything_. Hope had prepared herself for this moment since Lizzie had learned her secret, but it still didn’t feel real.

And then, she heard Josie calling her name.

She appeared across the clearing, as if Hope’s thoughts had summoned her, and yet all she could think was that Josie shouldn’t be wandering around in the woods after fainting from a black magic purge spell. 

“Hope!” Josie yelled, storming towards her with fire in her gaze. “Hope Mikaelson.”

Josie said her name like it was an accusation, but Hope couldn’t help the shiver that ran through her bones at the sound. 

She opened her mouth to answer her, even though she had no idea what to say, but then she heard Landon scream.

“Stay here!” She told her, her eyes flashing gold as she turned and moved towards the sound. 

Josie, of course, didn’t listen. 

“Is that all you have to say?” She demanded as she followed Hope through the trees and into the next clearing, where Landon was being strangled by the Croatoan. 

God, the universe really did enjoy screwing with her, didn’t it?

“Can we not do this right now?” She snapped, refusing to look at Josie, even though she could sense the heat radiating off of her, her wolf senses triggered by the emotions coursing through her and the scents and sounds of the woods around her.

She ignored that itch in her bones, the desire to turn and press her lips to Josie’s, casting a spell that had roots wrapping around the Croatoan’s feet, distracting it so that Landon was able to get free. His eyes widened when he saw her, and he said her name, but she didn’t acknowledge him, motioning for him to get behind her.

He looked confused, but Josie didn’t miss a beat. “Don’t worry, Landon. Hope’s not answering _anyone’s_ questions right now.”

It was far snarkier than she was used to, and Hope would have been proud if the barbed words weren’t directed at her. “Josie, I really can’t—“

The Croatoan broke free from the roots as her concentration wavered, and she fired off another incantation, throwing it across the clearing.

“Josie,” she tried again, turning to face her. “If you would just let me deal with this, we can talk—“

“We wouldn’t even be having the conversation if it was up to you,” Josie screamed, and Landon had the good sense to look slightly terrified by the expression on her face.

“Look, I didn’t tell you because I thought you were happy,” Hope said, hissing the words out between clenched teeth as she kept one eye on the Croatoan. God, this was not how she’d wanted this conversation to go. “ _Happier_.” 

“Without you,” Josie said, an echo of what she’d said on the phone, before Hope had jumped into the pit and everything had gone to shit.

“Well, you were happy enough to have sex that was _definitely_ gonna be without me,” Hope screamed, the words coming from that angry, bitter place inside of her where she’d buried the memories of seeing Josie with Landon, watching him kissing her, hearing about their plans to do it the night of the decade dance. 

“Who told you that?” Josie asked, her anger momentarily replaced by shock. 

“Does it matter?” Hope asked, because that clearly wasn’t the _point_. Josie had moved on, even if she wouldn’t admit it. 

At that moment, MG appeared. 

“Good thing you guys were arguing,” he said, clapping Hope on the shoulder. She flinched at the contact, staring at him in disbelief. “I could hear you from across town.”

“This belonged to the witch that created that thing,” he told her, holding up a necklace on a silver chain.

Before he could launch into the history, Hope turned, chanting as she held the necklace in front of her. The Croatoan stumbled, and then it crumpled to the forest floor, leaving a pile of blue goo and black robes in it’s place.

Hope sighed, turning around to look at the three other people in the clearing. Landon and MG were staring at the Croatoan’s remains in disgust, but Josie was looking right at her.

She took a step towards her, and Josie’s eyes flicked up and down her body, as if checking if Hope was real. She couldn’t blame her, she was doing the same thing. “Now we can talk,” she said, her voice soft enough that even MG would need to strain to hear it.

But Josie just stared at her, and Hope flinched when she saw the _disgust_ on her face. 

Before she could say anything, Josie turned her back on her and walked away. Landon followed, after giving her another bewildered look, and Hope and MG were left standing in the clearing.

Alone.

° ° ° 

“So, you remember now?”

Lizzie and Josie were standing in the gym, where Josie had returned after saying an awkward goodbye to Landon, when she asked her the question.

“No thanks to you,” Josie said, unable to help herself. “I had to figure out everything on my own.” 

“You didn’t tell me about Hope either,” Lizzie reminded her. “So we’re even.”

Josie didn’t say anything, biting her lip to keep her retort to herself. Lizzie was right, but she’d remembered first. It was different.

“How did you find out?” 

“I found Penelope’s journal,” Josie told her.

Lizzie scoffed, rolling her eyes. “I thought we were done with that witch.”

“Well, then you better stop using that pen she gave you,” Josie snapped, annoyed that after everything that had happened, Lizzie still acted like Penelope was only the evil witch who had broken Josie’s heart. “Records everything that you put in your diary. Including the fact that when I purged the Oni from your mind it brought back all of your memories of Hope.”

Lizzie had the decency to look ashamed at that, looking down at her feet. 

And yet... her sister’s betrayal had hurt, but it was nothing compared the ache in Josie’s chest. Another person had lied to her, one she didn’t even want to think about. 

“You should have said something,” Josie told her, choking on the words.

“I know,” Lizzie whispered, emotion filling her gaze as she looked at Josie. “I wanted to protect you.”

“I know,” Josie said, tears pooling in her eyes. “And a part of me didn’t want to bring back everyone’s memories. But I talked to Mom, and she said that people deserve to know the truth. Make their own choices.”

Lizzie nodded, but she saw the unspoken words on her face. Josie was the one who needed to make a choice now. 

“What choice do you think I should make?” She asked, her voice shaking. 

“I don’t know,” Lizzie admitted, shaking her head as she pulled Josie into a hug. “But I will be here for you either way.”

Josie laid her head on her sister’s shoulder, her vision blurry with tears, and sighed.

She knew the truth now. But who was she supposed to choose?

° ° ° 

If Hope knew one thing about family, it was that they fought for each other.

Perhaps that was the problem. She hadn’t fought for Josie, not like she should have. She’d let her fear, her inability to believe that Josie might actually choose her over Landon, to blind her to what really mattered.

She’d been wrong. About everything, 

It didn’t matter, though, because all of her attempts to keep her identity a secret, to protect Josie’s happiness, had still ended with Josie hating her. 

And now, she was sitting in the town square. Alone.

She had been stupid to believe that Josie might come and find her, that even Lizzie or Rafael or Alaric might think to check on her.

She was alone, and she had no one to blame but herself. 

“Hope?”

At the sound of that voice, Hope turned, unable to believe it until she saw who was standing behind her.

“Aunt Freya?”

Freya nodded, grinning at her, the emotion in her eyes enough to make Hope’s knees buckle. 

Somehow, she managed to stand and cross the town square, and a sob tore from her chest as Freya pulled her into her arms. 

° ° ° 

When Landon found Josie at the docks, she tried not to be disappointed, but the truth was that she was too exhausted to work through this mess with him at the moment.

“Looks like you’re deep in thought.”

“More like stealing myself for what I have to tell you,” she said, curling her legs into her chest to hide the fact that her hands were shaking.

She’d been dreading this conversation.

Landon sat down beside her, the dock creaking beneath him. “So, I take it you weren’t on a field trip to Richmond?”

Another lie she’d told, though she knew Landon wouldn’t hold it against her. God, she didn’t deserve him.

“I was in New Orleans,” she told him, fighting to keep her voice steady. “I needed to find a witch.”

“There’s plenty of those around here,” Landon said, clearly confused.

“A Mikaelson witch,” she clarified, her smile strained as she thought of Freya, who she’d _definitely_ met before today. Not that either of them had remembered, considering those memories were tied to Hope. 

“Hope’s aunt,” she explained, in response to Landon’s questioning stare. “I needed answers. I need a _push_ to do the right thing, bring back everyone’s memories. Hope’s family was missing a piece of their life too. I needed to see that for myself so I would stop being _so_ selfish.”

“You are literally the least selfish person that I‘ve ever met,” Landon told her, but Josie knew that she had been. She’d never even considered that the girl she’d met at the football game might have other friends, family who missed her. She’d only thought of herself. “That’s nothing I had to remember. It’s something I’ll never forget.”

Josie wiped a tear from her cheek, and then Landon asked, “But you do remember her, don’t you? That changes things, right?”

“I don’t know yet,” Josie admitted, unable to meet his gaze. “I just need some time.” 

“Yeah, of course,” Landon said, nodding, but she didn’t miss the crestfallen expression on his face. As if Josie had already made her choice, and it wasn’t him.

She wished it was that simple. But it wasn’t.

She didn’t want to hurt either of them. So how the hell did she choose? 

° ° ° 

“So, are we gonna talk about how you threw yourself into a pit of mud and decided not to tell me? Or Marcel, or Rebekah, or Kol—“

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Hope sighed, interrupting Freya before she could complete her guilt trip. “I should have called.”

They were walking the streets of Mystic Falls, back towards the hotel room Freya had booked for the night, and away from the commotion of the festival it was almost... peaceful. 

Hope couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt like this, as if she could tell someone everything and they wouldn’t judge her for it. She’d missed Freya, even before she’d gone into Malivore. 

Freya hummed her agreement, but she seemed to be letting the subject alone. At least for now. 

“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” Hope muttered, kicking a loose stone across the pavement. “But now—“

“You realized that sacrificing yourself isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?” Freya asked, though her voice was teasing.

Hope shook her head. She’d definitely learned that lesson. And yet... there was another reason she’d jumped into that pit. One she’d refused to mention until now. 

“I thought I’d see my parents,” she admitted, avoiding Freya’s gaze, the pain she knew she’d find there. “I thought that if I went into Malivore, it would mean I’d died and find peace. That I would get to be with them. 

She sighed, looking around at the abandoned street and the twinkling stars above. “As you can see, that plan was an epic fail. So was everything else, if were keeping track.”

“Hope—“ Freya started, but she honestly didn’t know if she could handle what her aunt had to say. Those first few weeks after her dad and Elijah had died, she hadn’t left her room. None of Freya’s attempts at comfort, her screaming at Hope to drop the barrier spell through the door, had mattered. Eventually, she’d sent Hope to spend the rest of the summer with Kol and Davina at their cabin in Maine. Hope had spent the majority of the months there in her wolf form, and when she’d returned to New Orleans, she’d locked those emotions that had kept her lying in bed for weeks in a box and thrown away the key. 

“I don’t want to talk about it, Freya,” she said, though she didn’t miss the skeptical look on her aunt’s face. “Please.”

Freya’s gaze softened, and she sighed. “So,” she said, and there was a mischievous look in her eyes that had dread pooling in Hope’s stomach. “That witch of yours certainly packs a punch. Josie, isn’t it?”

Hope froze, staring at her, and Freya grinned. “I thought so. She paid me a visit, wanted help translating a little black magic purge spell. For some reason, she forgot to mention that she knew you. And when I figured it out, she blasted me with enough black magic that Vincent sensed it from the other side of the Quarter. I’d be pissed, if I wasn’t so impressed. You sure know how to pick them.”

Hope shook her head, telling herself she’d think about the fact that Josie had visited Freya in New Orleans later. “She’s not exactly _my_ witch these days, if you haven’t noticed.”

Freya raised an eyebrow, encouraging her to continue. “I’m guessing this has something to do with you lying to her about who you really were.” 

“I think she hates me,” Hope whispered, unable to hide the tears suddenly burning in her eyes. 

“I doubt that,” Freya said, and Hope noticed the satisfied expression on her face. “Trust me, Hope. That girl feels something for you, and it’s definitely not hate.“

“I lied to her,” Hope said, shaking her head. “What if she never forgives me? What if she doesn’t want this anymore? What if she doesn’t want _me_?”

“Hey,” Freya said, reaching over to wipe a tear from her cheek. “She just needs time. But no matter what happens with Josie, I need you to understand that you are more than just the loophole to end Malivore. And your parents... Hope, they would be _so_ proud of you.”

Hope exhaled, nodding at Freya, unsure if she could even speak past the tightness in her throat.

But Freya wasn’t done. “Even if Josie doesn’t want to be with you anymore, if your school friends can’t see how special you are, you still have a home. With me. With us.”

“Come back to New Orleans,” she said, taking Hope’s hands in hers and squeezing them, her gaze determined. “Come home.”

The image of Josie, staring at her with nothing but hatred in her eyes as she turned her back on Hope, returned to her. 

Maybe it was time to go home.


	7. how do we come back again?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He raised his arm above his head, a look of triumph on his face, but before he could cut her with the trident, his hand froze in midair.
> 
> “Hello, Clarke,” said a biting, female voice, and shock flared in his eyes as he slowly turned his head towards the source, gritting his teeth when he saw who was standing behind him.
> 
> Hope knew that voice, knew who’d come to save her. 
> 
> “I think we have some unfinished business.”
> 
> Josie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i see your simulandon and i raise you... simuhope. not sure if this even makes sense but i really wanted to do it so just go with it pls lol. also i’m really proud of this chapter so please show it some love!!
> 
> question time: if hope makes a call to one member of her family in the next chapter, who should it be? marcel, freya, rebekah, or kol/davina? i’m leaning towards rebekah but would love to know your opinions!

Josie was lying in bed, the morning sun streaming in through the blinds, trying to piece together which of her memories were real and which were fake.

They had followed her into her dreams, until Josie had jerked awake in the middle of the night, haunted by her own memories.

Memories, that she’d forgotten and then remembered again when she’d purged the black magic from her mind.

All these months, she’d been dreaming of Hope, and she’d had no idea who she was.

And Hope had lied to her. About everything.

Maybe she should hate her for it.

And yet, the question still remained.

Who was she going to choose?

° ° °

“Reporting for portal duty!”

Hope was sitting on a bench in the town square, guarding the Malivore portal as she contemplated whether conjuring a hologram of Josie with the prism would soothe the ache in her chest or make it worse, when she heard Lizzie’s voice. 

“I brought backup,” she said, as Hope turned to look at her, and that’s when she noticed that Josie was standing beside her. 

She smiled at her, though it was more of a grimace than anything.

Hope smiled back. She’d take what she could get.

“Can we... sit?” Lizzie asked, gesturing to the bench.

Hope nodded, moving over so the twins could join her.

“Well, this is nice, right?” Lizzie asked after a moment of awkward silence, her voice forcefully cheery. “Together again.”

“It’s great,” Hope said, though she doubted her attempt to imitate Lizzie’s positive attitude was very successful.

“It’s awesome,” Josie muttered, and it was clear that coming here had _not_ been her idea.

“I mean for the two of you not to be talking to each other just because Hope didn’t tell Josie she was back from Malivore which resulted in her dating a human-sized garden knome... I think we’re more evolved than that as women,” Lizzie said, smiling at them.

“Absolutely.”

“Without a doubt.”

“Good, because personally, I’ve never been better,” Lizzie said, either oblivious or choosing to ignore the obvious tension between them. “My work paid off, my mind is sharp, all perceived mental breakdowns were a figment of my imagination fed by two _manipulative_ vampires who will remain forever my enemies.”

“What’s going on with Sebastian?” Hope asked, eager to keep the topic of conversation as far away from her and Josie as possible. 

“Headmaster Downtown Abbey wants us to enroll him to keep him off the streets,” Lizzie said, rolling her eyes. “But after deliberately letting me think that I was unwell, I will not let that happen.”

“You should forgive MG,” Josie suggested, and Hope was honestly surprised she’d said a sentence longer than three words. “He didn’t want to hurt you.”

“He hid things from me,” Lizzie said, shaking her head at her sister. “Zero stars.”

“He’s not the only friend keeping secrets,” Josie snapped, and Hope didn’t need a translator to understand who the unnamed _friend_ was. 

“I didn’t want to hurt _you_ either,” she said, unable to keep quiet, even though she had a feeling she’d regret it.

“Yeah, well, zero stars,” Josie said, not meeting her gaze.

Hope sighed, shaking her head. This was _so_ not going well. 

“Is that what I think it is?” Josie asked, and it took Hope a moment to realize she was talking about the prism.

“Yeah,” she said, glancing at Josie, wondering if she should mention how she’d been using it to talk to her. 

But Josie just nodded, and Hope couldn’t decide what to read into the gesture. “Here,” she said, offering the prism to Josie. “I don’t need it anymore.”

“Thanks,” Josie muttered, taking it from her. She turned the prism over in her hands, studying it. Hope had told the truth when she’d said she didn’t need it; now that she was talking to the real Josie, the fake version just... didn’t do it for her anymore.

“Look at us, clear hearts and minds, letting the power of our intellect rule the day over our emotions,” Lizzie said, and Hope tried not to cringe at how goddamn _awkward_ this was. The twins and her had spent their entire lives at odds, and then last year she’d thought they might finally consider her a friend, maybe even something more in Josie’s case. Either way, they’d been a team. Now, it was just... weird. Like they didn’t fit anymore. 

“Moving forward, with dignity and grace,” Lizzie continued, wrapping her arms around Hope and Josie and yanking them closer to her. “This is the true definition of girl power. I’m proud of us.”

Lizzie could give all the motivational speeches she wanted, but Hope didn’t think it would change anything.

Because she was fairly sure Josie hated her, and she had absolutely no idea how to fix it.

° ° °

“Hey,” Hope said, knocking on the door to Alaric’s office as she stepped inside. “So, I just had the awkwardest conversation ever with your daughters. How is _your_ day going?”

When he didn’t answer, she kept rambling, unable to stop herself. “And I’m pretty sure Josie hates me, so—“

She stopped talking when Alaric hugged her.

“Uh, good morning to you too,” she said, though she was smiling to herself. At least _someone_ was happy to see her. 

“You told me your story,” he said, sighing into her hair. “But now, with the memories... I’m just happy to have you back.”

“I wish everyone else felt the same,” she said as she stepped back, remembering how tense it had been between her and Josie that morning. 

“You just gonna have to give them time,” Alaric said, and Hope noted how he avoided saying Josie’s name.

They clearly needed to have the _your-daughter-was-my-girlfriend-before-she-forgot-my-entire-existence_ talk, but Hope didn’t have the energy at the moment. Besides, it hardly seemed to matter now.

“Actually, I’m planning on doing just that,” she told him. “I’m heading home to New Orleans, to do research on how to close the portal with my aunt and her circle of witches.”

Also, to stuff her face with beignets and see Nik. And to possibly get drunk with Marcel and mourn her, well, _everything_. 

“I see,” he said, nodding. “Now, this trip to New Orleans, is it round-trip or one-way?”

“To be honest with you, I don’t know,” she admitted. She hadn’t made any official plans yet, but after this morning... maybe she should.

Freya had been right. It was time for her to come home, and after everything she’d lost... home wasn’t here anymore. 

° ° °

Josie took a deep breath, bracing herself, and when she opened her eyes, Hope was sitting in front of her.

Somehow, it was easier to see her like this. She wasn’t real, just a projection of Josie’s subconscious. This morning, it had been impossible to look at Hope for longer than three seconds before her heart started to race and her palms got all sweaty.

Honestly, there’d been a moment when she’d seen Hope sitting on that bench, before she’d remembered everything that had happened, where Josie thought she might do something stupid. Like kiss her. 

This conversation, however, was risk free.

Prism-Hope hadn’t said anything yet, blinking at her with a blank, but curious expression on her face. It was kind of adorable, honestly—

_No, Josie. Focus._

She needed to figure out what she was going to do, and she’d thought that talking to Hope might help her decide.

Since she didn’t think she could have a conversation with the real Hope without screaming at her, this was the next best thing.

“So, this is weird,” Josie said, clearing her throat as she studied Prism-Hope. “I need your help. I obviously care about Hope _and_ Landon, but I have hit girl power rock bottom. I need to make a choice. I just don’t know how.”

Hope tilted her head, considering. “Well, I think you should choose me.”

When she noticed Josie’s shocked expression, she shook her head. “Sorry. You wanted an impartial answer, right?”

Josie nodded, ignoring the single butterfly that had started to flutter in her chest. 

“Well, I’m sorry, but I don’t know,” Hope said, and Josie sighed. “I’m a prismatic hologram from your subconscious. I only know what you know. You have to make this decision for yourself.”

Well, that was entirely unhelpful.

“Yeah, I would love to,” Josie snapped, her heels wearing a path in the carpet as she started to pace. “But Hope is watching the Malivore portal, and we know how well that conversation went. And Landon is holed up in the library, doing research and avoiding everything.”

“Then, you know where to find me. And him,” Prism Hope pointed out.

“What do I _say_ though?” Josie asked, because the idea of confronting Landon or Hope was giving her serious anxiety. How the hell did she even navigate this situation?

“Hey, look at me,” Hope said, rising from her chair to take Josie’s hands in hers. “You still want me, don’t you?”

“Yes, no, I don’t know,” Josie stammered, confused as to why her heart was racing even with _fake_ Hope touching her.

“That’s the problem,” she said, slipping from Hope’s grasp, her head immediately clearing at the lack of contact. “I don’t know what I want. And meanwhile, Malivore still wants Landon. And Hope might just hurl herself into the portal if left unattended, or trigger her vampire side. It’s too bad I can’t just use you to kill Malivore. At least that would be one problem solved.”

Prism Hope hummed, considering, and then she said, “What if you could?”

° ° °

When Josie finally managed to track Landon down, he was in the library with Rafael.

“Hey,” she said, wincing as he slammed the book he was reading shut and looked up at her. “Any chance we could talk?”

Landon nodded, and Rafael excused himself. Josie had to bite her tongue to keep herself from asking him to stay. She would have to talk to Landon alone at some point, why not now?

She slid into the seat across from him, and the smile on her face wasn’t forced as she said, “Hey, I have a crazy idea.”

She explained everything to him, the plan she’d created with Hope’s hologram in her room that would hopefully end with the portal closed and Malivore gone for good. Landon seemed skeptical, but he agreed. 

So did Professor Vardemus, when she asked him if it would work.

“It would require a certain level of black magic,” he said, studying her. “And you know how your father feels about you practicing such sorcery.”

“It’s life or death,” she said, though she knew Vardemus was right. The less her dad knew, the better. “He’ll deal.”

She could sense that Landon wanted to object, but she ignored him. Nothing had happened to her when she’d done the spell to bring everyone’s memories back, not even a nosebleed.

“Technically, it is possible,” Vardemus told her, leaning forward in his chair as if sharing a secret. 

Josie beamed, pride blooming in her chest.

Vardemus opened a drawer to his desk, extracting a metal object with three blades that curved towards each other. “This trident will be of use. Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

“Technically, the only person who has to do anything dangerous is Hope,” Josie said, ignoring how strange that name still felt on her lips.

“What do you think she’ll say?” Vardemus asked. 

“Probably that we’ve lost our minds, that we should stay out of it,” Josie said, though she knew Hope would agree to her plan if it meant they had a chance at closing the portal. She was too selfless not to.

“And if she refuses?” Vardemus said, his voice stern and commanding. “What will you say to her in return to convince her?”

Josie hadn’t thought that far yet, but...

“I guess there’s only one way to find out.”

As soon as she’d said the words, Lizzie opened the door to the office, her eyes finding Josie’s.

“Josie,” she said, and Josie braced herself when she saw the look on her sister’s face. “Hope’s leaving town.”

° ° °

Hope was at the bus station, waiting in line to board the bus that would take her back to New Orleans, when she heard someone scream her name.

“Hope! Wait!” It was Lizzie, who must have run here from how hard she was panting. “Don’t go. We need you.”

Of course they did.

“I– Lizzie, what are you doing here?” she asked, reluctantly stepping out of line to pull Lizzie to the side. “I told you, I have to figure out a way to close the portal.”

“We have one,” Lizzie insisted, slipping her hand into Hope’s and tugging her away from the bus. “Well, it’s not _my_ plan, but–“

“It’s mine.”

Hope turned at the sound of Josie’s voice, and saw her standing behind Lizzie, looking wary but determined. 

“If you just come with us, I can explain everything,” she said, though Hope didn’t miss how she was _still_ refusing to look at her.

She sighed, glancing at the glowing letters on the side of the bus that said _New Orleans_. She’d had a plan, a decision, one she’d made for herself for once. Was she really going to do this all over again?

“Hope, please,” Josie said, biting her lip as she widened her eyes, pleading with her.

Hope didn’t even bother to resist after that, and Lizzie beamed at her when she nodded. 

She’d never been able to say no to Josie. That still hadn’t changed, even though everything else had.

° ° °

“Oh, no,” Lizzie said, as she stared at Prism Hope, who was sitting on Josie’s bed, quiet and unmoving since Josie had put a silencing charm on her. The last thing she needed was her subconscious spilling her secrets. “When you said you had a plan, this was _not_ what I had in mind. There are _two_ Hope’s?” 

“I’m calling her SimuHope,” Josie said, smiling at her sister even as Lizzie glared at her. “I used the prism to manifest my subconscious and then turned her into a Gollum.”

“Show her,” she said, nodding at SimuHope, who pulled down her shirt, revealing the glowing white orb in the center of her chest. 

“Headmaster Vardemus helped us,” Josie explained, because she Lizzie did _not_ seem convinced. “We used this object called a trident to bind the mind, body, and spirit of SimuHope with a spell.”

“What kind of spell?” Lizzie asked, clearly suspicious.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Josie told her, making sure she met Lizzie’s gaze so that it didn’t look like she was lying. Which she wasn’t. She’d be perfectly safe the entire time, thanks to the hourglass Professor Vardemus had given her. “He gave me this weird, magical hourglass that prevents any side effects.”

“Josie, Dad will _melt_ you if you are dabbling in black magic,” Lizzie said, crossing her arms and shooting a pointed look at SimuHope.

“I’m not dabbling,” Josie said, hating how defensive she sounded. “I’m doing what needs to be done to close the portal.”

“And you thought it was smart to give SimuHope a voice?” 

“It’s the only way anyone could think of to close the portal,” Josie said, shrugging, even though she knew what Lizzie was getting at.

“Or maybe, you just wanted her to make a certain decision _for_ you,” Lizzie said, shaking her head at Josie. “And so that you could avoid talking to the real Hope.”

“Yeah, well, she wasn’t exactly helpful,” Josie said, ignoring the second part of Lizzie’s accusation. 

It might have been the truth, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was closing the portal, and Josie would do whatever she needed to do it.

She didn’t know who she wanted, but she wasn’t going to let Landon or Hope die to defeat Malivore. It wasn’t an option.

“I hope you’re right about this, Jo,” Lizzie said, sounding resigned. “But I’m not convincing Hope to bleed herself dry. That’s on you.”

° ° °

Honestly, Hope didn’t know how she got herself in these situations. 

“So, this is SimuMe?” She asked, studying the holographic copy of herself Josie had apparently dubbed _SimuHope_. “Weird.”

They looked exactly the same, and if Hope wasn’t herself, she didn’t think she’d be able to tell which Hope was real and which was fake. It was impressive, and disturbing. 

“Okay,” she said, looking at Josie and Lizzie. “How are we doing this?”

“We’re going to use her as a decoy,”  
Josie said, gesturing towards SimuHope.  
“Lizzie will take SimuYou to the portal, and then your hologram will jump into Malivore.”

“How does that close the portal?” Hope asked, still not sure if she even wanted to do this. She trusted Josie, but this seemed desperate, even for her.

“That’s where you come in. We need to pump SimuHope full of your blood,” Josie explained. “So, when she goes in, your Tribrid blood will close the portal.”

“My blood’s not enough to keep the portal closed,” Hope told her, shaking her head. “I have to activate my vampire side. Malivore’s just gonna spit her out and create a new portal.”

“That’s the catch,” Josie said, looking proud as she smirked at SimuHope. “I bound her to the lunar cycle. So, when the moon reaches its apex tomorrow night, SimuHope will disintegrate before there’s anything for Malivore to spit out. Portal closed, no new portal open, both problems solved.”

Hope had to admit, it made sense. And all she had to do was give blood, so there was no real harm in trying.

And when this was done, she could be too. If Malivore was gone, she could leave town, and she wouldn’t have anything to pull her back. She’d be free.

“Okay,” she said, sighing as she said, “Let’s do it.”

° ° °

Sitting on Josie’s bed in the twin’s dorm room, rolling up her sleeve as Josie wrangled with the IV tubing, Hope realized that this was the first time they’d been alone since Josie had remembered her.

Well, alone except for her prismatic hologram, who was lying unconscious on Lizzie’s bed. 

To her disappointment, Josie had spoken even less than she had this morning.  
Honestly, it was starting to get on her nerves. Josie could be mad at her if she wanted, as long as she _said_ something.

“Ready?” Josie asked, her tone clipped and all-business. 

Hope nodded, holding out her arm as Josie inserted the needle into her skin and pressed a piece of tape over it. She ignored the goosebumps that rose to the surface where Josie’s fingers brushed her skin, and wondered if Josie felt her shiver.

“So,” she said, once the silence and awkward eye contact became unbearable. “We’re not gonna talk about how you walked away from me after we took down the Croatoan?”

She hadn’t meant to ask, but the words just slipped out. 

“I didn’t have much to say,” Josie said, studying the IV line with an infuriating amount of focus. 

“Welcome back,” she added after a moment, but the words were empty of any actual emotion, and Hope scoffed.

She didn’t want _this_. She wanted Josie to talk to her, to tell her how she felt.

She decided to try again. “It’s like Lizzie said, evolved people talk to one another. They don’t just stalk off when things get complicated. So, why don’t you stop avoiding me?”

“I’m not avoiding you,” Josie said, and Hope actually rolled her eyes this time. “We’re literally in the same room.”

“Oh, you know what I mean,” she said, sighing in exasperation. “Talk to me, tell me how you feel.”

“It’s not about what I feel,” Josie said, though Hope didn’t miss how her voice shook slightly. “It’s about doing the right thing.”

Screw that. Hope had tried to do _the right thing_ for weeks, it was the reason she was in this situation to begin with. “There’s a shelf life on doing the right thing. If you wait too long, it’s just _wrong_.”

She understood that now. By keeping her return a secret from Josie, she might have spared herself some heartache, but it only caused more hurt in the end. For everyone.

“So, you don’t have anything else you want to say to me?”

Josie stared at her, her mouth opening as if she _did_ want to say something, but it clamped shut a moment later. “No,”  
she said, and Hope flinched at how harsh her voice was. “There’s nothing else I want to say to you.”

Josie left the room, the door slamming shut behind her.

Hope ignored the ache in her chest, sighing as she leaned her head back against the pillows. 

She was done trying. 

° ° °

Josie still had a pit in her stomach from her conversation with Hope as she sat across from Professor Vardemus in his office, kneeling on a velvet cushion as she prepared to bind the trident to the lunar cycle. 

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she said, tugging on a loose strand of her t-shirt. “It’s like every time I try to tell Hope the truth, I freeze. I’ve spent my entire life being second-best to my sister, I can’t make this decision.”

“Far from second-best, Miss Saltzman,” Vardemus corrected, glaring at her. “You are a powerful witch now. And a long way from gushing nosebleeds. I’m impressed with your growth.”

It was true, but Josie still felt... off. Like she was constantly on edge, ready to snap at any moment. “I feel like I’m gonna explode,” she admitted, glancing at the hourglass, at the black smoke swirling within it. “Has that hourglass stopped working?”

“Not at all,” Vardemus reassured her. “But it holds magic, not strong emotions.”

“This is more than strong emotions,” she said, shaking her head. “It feels like my head is screaming at me.”

“Well, your friend lied to you,” Vardemus said, and Josie tried not to flinch at the reminder of Hope. “Your twin helped her keep that secret. But fear not, there are other ways to release the demons dancing in your mind.”

“The trident we used this morning,” he said, and Josie studied the object in his hands. “I believe you’re finally strong enough for this.”

She took it from him, the metal cool against her skin, and Vardemus smiled at her as he searched for the spell in his grimoire. “Close your eyes,” he told her, and Josie obeyed. In the silence, she heard pages turning. “This spell will channel the rage, the sadness, everything into that object. It will transfer all the dark energy right out of you.” 

Josie nodded, bracing herself. Lizzie and her dad wouldn’t approve, but what they didn’t know couldn’t hurt them. 

“Repeat after me,” Vardemus instructed, and then he began to chant.

_Phesmatos tribum nas ex viras quoanimo trenscibete._

Josie repeated the words, drawing on that pit of darkness and rage within herself, and focused her attention on the trident. She wrapped her hand around Professor Vardemus’s wrist, siphoning from him when her magic started to waver.

“You can do this,” he said, his voice strained. “Keep your focus.”

She did, the words coming faster as she continued to chant, relishing in the raw power at her fingertips.

“Keep your focus on the trident,” Vardemus hissed, and Josie saw a flicker of red light even with her eyes closed.

“This will all be over soon,” he said, but this time, it wasn’t Vardemus’s voice speaking to her.

Josie opened her eyes, gasping when she saw who was sitting across from her. Not Vardemus, but...

Clarke. 

She opened her mouth to scream for help, but it was too late. Exhaustion tugged at her, and before Josie could stop it, she felt herself hit the ground and everything went dark.

° ° °

When Hope opened her eyes, she realized that she must have fallen asleep. The room was dark now, illuminated only by the lamp on the nightstand. There was the soft gushing of the device they were using to collect her blood, and her prismatic hologram passed out in Lizzie’s bed. 

“Good, you’re awake,” Lizzie said, and Hope jumped, turning to see her sitting in a chair beside her. “I was getting bored just sitting here, Mikaelson.”

Even she couldn’t hide the fact that she was feeling drained, the effects of the loss of blood finally catching up to her, so she just sighed and closed her eyes, waiting for Lizzie to speak.

“Can we talk about how you decided to leave town without telling me? Again?”

“I _did_ tell you,” Hope reminded her, too tired to argue. “Thanks for tipping off the cavalry, by the way.”

Lizzie huffed, shaking her head. “I had to. But c’mon, Mikaelson. Spill. I thought we agreed you leaving town was a mistake.”

“That was before everyone remembered me,” Hope said, wincing at the dull throb at her temple. “I don’t want to stay because I don’t want to be where I’m not welcome.”

“But you belong here,” Lizzie insisted, scowling at her. “This is your _home_. I just don’t understand—“

“It’s complicated,” Hope snapped, the sound of her own voice giving her a headache. She wasn’t in the right headspace for this conversation, but of course Lizzie chose to have it when Hope couldn’t run away from her. Literally. 

“It’s _not_ complicated,” Lizzie said, sounding as exasperated as Hope felt. “Josie is just incapable of acknowledging how she feels about you. Which, trust me, is ridiculous. She loves you, and she doesn’t want you to go into the portal. That’s why she’s doing all of this. She will do _anything_ to keep you safe.”

Hope sighed, though she couldn’t deny that it was nice to hear Lizzie say that Josie cared about her. Especially since everything she’d done today seemed to prove the opposite.

“I’m sorry that Josie can’t tell you the truth,” Lizzie said, and to her credit, she _did_ sound sorry. Even if it wasn’t her fault. “She’s just... scared. That’s why she can’t say that she wants you to stay. That’s why she’s not here right now telling you how she feels about you.”

Hope nodded, biting her lip. She winced, trying to ignore how drained she felt, the tightness in her veins. 

“You okay?” Lizzie asked, her hand closing on Hope’s arm as she sat up, looking concerned.

Hope nodded, leaning her head back against Josie’s pillow. 

She was fine, she just didn’t feel like talking anymore.

° ° °

Josie woke up in her dad’s arms, with him shaking her and screaming her name. 

It took her a moment to gather her thoughts, her mind still clouded after the spell, but then she remembered.

Clarke. Somehow, he’d disguised himself as Professor Vardemus, and used her to spell the trident. 

And if he’d lied about helping her, then what did the trident _really_ do?

Whatever his plan was, it couldn’t be good.

“Dad,” she said, looking up at him and hoping he could see the guilt on her face, that he knew how sorry she was. “I think I did something bad.”

As soon as she said it, Lizzie appeared in the doorway. 

“Josie?” She asked, rushing to her side, eyes wide with panic. “What happened? I thought you said you’d be safe—“

“It was Clarke,” Josie explained, standing on shaky legs. She resisted the urge to check the hourglass in the corner of the room, to make sure Clarke hadn’t lied about that too. “He tricked me, made me spell that trident. What about you? Where’s SimuHope?”

Lizzie shook her head. “When we got to the portal, it was gone. I don’t know how.”

Josie sighed, shaking her head. They’d failed, _she’d_ failed. And now Hope would—

Oh, god. _Hope_.

“Dad,” she said, struggling to think past the panic tightening in her chest. “If Clarke’s inside the school, Hope doesn’t have any blood in her system. She can’t defend herself. We have to—“

“Josie, it’s okay,” he said, placing his hands on her shoulders. “I will find Hope, you and Lizzie tell Dorian to evacuate the school and then get the hell out of here. Understand?”

Josie nodded, allowing Lizzie to wrap an arm around her as they left the office. 

She trusted her Dad, but if something happened to Hope because of her mistakes... she’d never forgive herself.

“She’ll be fine,” Lizzie said, squeezing Josie’s shoulder and offering her a weak smile. “Hope can take care of herself.”

Josie nodded. She trusted Hope, too, but it didn’t make her feel any less guilty.

This was all her fault.

  
° ° °

Hope jerked awake, her heart pounding in her chest, and tried to shake the remnants of her nightmare from her mind. She couldn’t quite remember what she’d been dreaming about, but it hadn’t been good.

Her vision focused, and she noticed Alaric sitting at the foot of the bed. “Hey, take it easy,” he said, his expression grim. “The school’s been evacuated. And you’re in no shape to move. You’ll be safe here.”

“What’s going on?” She asked, her voice shaky. She still felt drained, and she knew Alaric was right about her being unable to move.

“In a nutshell, Headmaster Vardemus was a Trojan Horse for Agent Clarke,” he said, and Hope felt a pit of dread settle in her stomach. After she’d left him in Malivore, she knew Clarke would want his revenge. “Lizzie tried to take your hologram to the portal, but it was closed when she got there. And Josie accidentally created a dark object of indeterminate power.”

Oh god, Josie. Hope had known Vardemus was manipulating her, but if it had been Clarke this entire time—

“Is she okay?” She demanded, struggling to rise from the bed even as her muscles protested. “I need to get up, I should help!”

“You have just enough blood in your veins to breathe,” Alaric said, stopping her with a hand on her knee. “Lie here, and heal while I go and patrol the school. I’ll be right back.”

He left, closing the door behind him, and Hope sighed.

She looked around the room, smiling to herself at the sight of Josie’s guitar leaning against the wall, the potted plants decorating the windowsill, her sweatshirt that was hanging over a chair. 

Their plan had failed epically, but at least she had earned a moment of peace. 

“Oh, hey,” said a gravelly, male voice, and then a bright red light filled the room and Clarke appeared out of thin air. “Miss me?”

“Clarke?” She asked, struggling to reconcile the image of him standing in Josie’s bedroom, with her last memory of him screaming at her as she was pulled from Malivore. “How did you get in here?”

“My trusty ring,” he explained, showing her the large, ruby encrusted ring on his finger. “Creates illusions. Thought I’d camp out while your friends emptied out the school.”

He stalked closer, and Hope shrunk back against the headboard. She raised her hands, a protection spell already on her lips, but she was too late.

Clarke clamped a pair of shackles around her wrists, and Hope’s magic vanished. 

For a moment, she wasn’t sitting in Josie’s bedroom, and Clarke wasn’t the person who’d tricked her. She was in a little house in the middle of nowhere, her mother chained and tortured a few feet away from her, and a boy she’d thought she could trust had just latched those same shackles around her wrists.

 _Not now, Hope,_ she told herself. She couldn’t spiral, not while Clarke was still there, looming over her.

“Surprise,” he said, smirking at her. “I found these in the school armory. Spelled shackles that neutralize a witch’s power. Another one of Ric’s failsafes against supernaturals.” 

When she finished with Clarke, Hope was going to have a word with Alaric about the kind of artifacts they kept at the school. And she’d make sure the shackles around her wrists were nullified. Or she’d give them to Kol as a Christmas present, he’d certainly appreciate them.

Clarke grabbed the chair from Josie’s desk, the one Lizzie had been sitting in earlier, and dragged it over to her.

“Yeah, please, go ahead,” she said, scowling at him. “Make yourself comfortable. While you’re at it, tell me what the hell you’re doing here.”

“I swore to my father I would come back and take you out,” he explained. “But my Dad screwed me over yet again.”

“How did he do that, huh?” She asked, trying to pretend that she wasn’t just buying herself time. “He seems like such a lovely, supernatural mastermind.”

Clarke chuckled, but then he said, “My form started to break down. He put a ticking clock on me in order to control me. I tried to consume people and monsters to stay stable, but it didn’t work. I burned through my monster food supply, and I was still unstable.”

He dragged a hand across his face, and Hope watched in disgust as his skin disintegrated into mud. “Once a mud man,” he said, his mouth curving downwards into a scowl. “Always a mud man.”

“But not anymore,” he added, grinning when he saw the disturbed look on her face. “I have a new solution. You.”

His expression was wild, crazed, as he said, “Why kill you, when I can become a powerful Tribrid and stand up to my father once and for all?”

“Everyone wants to be a Tribrid,” Hope told him, her voice light despite the dread creeping up her spine. “Until they actually have to be a Tribrid.”

Clarke drew a strange, metal object from his jacket pocket, and she frowned. “What is that?”

“A little weapon your frenemy Josie helped create today,” he said, and from the way he drew out the words, she knew he had guessed the effect they would have on her.

“If you hurt her—“ Hope snarled, baring her teeth at him, focusing on that rage and protectiveness instead of the hurt tugging at her heart. She doubted Josie had known what she was doing, but what if she had? What if she truly hated her that much?

“Oh, she’ll be fine,” Clarke said, and Hope snarled again at his casual tone. “She’s probably still sleeping off the effects of the black magic as we speak. But if I were you, I’d be a little more worried about myself than my _ex_ -girlfriend.”

Hope felt a rush of relief when she heard Josie was okay, but then Clarke raked the metal prongs of the trident across his palm, leaving three lines of blood in it’s wake. 

“Now, my consciousness will transfer into the next person I cut,” he said, standing from his chair, smirking at her as he stalked closer to the bed. Hope glanced at the trident, the manic expression on Clarke’s face, and cursed the absence of magic and blood in her veins. 

“I know I shouldn’t gloat,” he said, leering at her, his face inches from her own. “But you screwed me over. And now I get payback. I’m going to enjoy this—“

He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence, because as he raised his arm to strike, she moved, grabbing his wrist and blocking the arm wielding the trident. He hissed, struggling against her, but she kicked him in the gut, and he fell to the ground with a groan. Before he could recover, she rolled off the bed and onto the floor.

“You little bitch!” He yelled, scrambling to his feet and following her out the door.

Well, not _her_. Hope was still lying under the bed, clutching Clarke’s ring in her hand, which she’d slid from his finger while he’d been focused on cutting her with the trident. A little illusion spell, and Clarke thought that she’d run out the door and escaped. 

Now, she just had to figure out how she was going to get herself out of this room. 

° ° °

As she listened to Clarke screaming at her in the distance, Hope stumbled towards the door, sliding the lock into place. 

She sighed, giving the shackles at her wrists a desperate tug before she collapsed against the wall and closed her eyes.

She didn’t know how long she stood there, forcing herself to breathe, to work past the panic suffocating her as she tried to think. It wasn’t that she was scared of Clarke, he was far from the worst monster she’d faced, but she was so goddamn _tired_. And not just physically, even though she could still feel the emptiness in her veins where her blood should be. 

Then, a fist banged against the door, and Hope jerked upright, stumbling over her feet. 

“Cute little trick,” Clarke growled through the door. “Now, open the door.”

The illusion hadn’t lasted as long as she thought it would. 

Hope scanned the room, desperate for a way out, and that’s when she saw it. The window. 

She didn’t give herself time to consider the downsides of a thirty-foot drop onto concrete, not as Clarke drove the trident into the door and she glimpsed his face through the gap. Oh, he was pissed.

She opened the shutters, braced herself against the railing, judged the distance below, and deemed that it wouldn’t kill her.

And as Clarke opened the door, Hope eased herself over the railing, and jumped.

° ° °

“Help!” Hope screamed, stumbling through the unlit, empty school grounds, her bones still aching from their collision with the concrete. “Somebody, help!”

 _No one’s coming for you,_ said that voice in her head. _No one cares._

The world blurred around her, fuzzy at the edges, and Hope almost tumbled to the ground as the blood loss hit her.

She braced her hands on her knees, gasping for breath. This was bad; she could barely stand.

“Somebody help!” She tried again, staggering a few steps forward, even though deep down she knew it was a lost cause. They’d evacuated the school, that’s what Alaric had said. And she was too far from the building for him to hear her. 

She turned her head towards the school, wondering if she should attempt to make it back, when a hand closed around her throat.

She gasped, clutching at Clarke’s wrist as he tugged her towards him. The air was leaving her lungs, she could feel it, her strength waning as he said, “No where to go, no one to help you.”

 _It’s true,_ she thought, even as she started to choke in his tightening grip, unable to speak. 

He raised his arm above his head, a look of triumph on his face, but before he could cut her with the trident, his hand froze in midair.

“Hello, Clarke,” said a biting, female voice, and shock flared in his eyes as he slowly turned his head towards the source, gritting his teeth when he saw who was standing behind him.

Hope knew that voice, knew who’d come to save her. 

“I think we have some unfinished business.”

Josie. 

° ° °

When Clarke had raised his arm, when Josie had noticed the hand he’d wrapped around Hope’s throat, all she’d been able to see was red.

In a single moment, she’d seized his hand with her magic, the rage tight in her throat as she said her greeting.

Clark was shocked enough by her arrival to relinquish his hold on Hope, and that was his mistake. His head twisted to the side as her fist collided with his face, and his hand fell from her throat, but Josie hadn’t missed the relief in Hope’s eyes when she’d heard her voice.

It had never been a choice to evacuate with the others, Josie knew that. The second that she’d learned Hope was in danger, because of _her_ actions, she made an excuse to Lizzie and disappeared. She had a feeling her sister had known what she was up to, but she hadn’t tried to stop her.

Her own guilt was enough of a distraction for the magic holding Clarke to falter, and he shoved Hope to the ground with a single hand. She fell far too easily, groaning when she hit the ground, and Josie winced at the reminder of the lack of blood in her veins. Her fault, again.

Clarke swore, wiping blood from his nose, and when Hope lifted her head her gaze found Josie.

“I heard you scream,” Josie offered as an explanation to her questioning stare, scanning Hope for injuries, her guilt rising when she saw the utter exhaustion on her face. “Are you hurt?”

“Better now that you’re here,” Hope said, and Josie tried not the flinch when she saw the disbelief on her face. She had thought no one was coming for her, that she was alone.

“Well, would you look at that,” Clarke said, having recovered from the blow Hope had dealt him. “Look who decided to step up and save their little girlfriend.”

“Are you guys back together?” He asked, and Josie didn’t miss the flicker of pain that crossed Hope’s face. “The relationship drama, it’s so hard to keep up with sometimes.”

“I’m so tired of hearing your voice,” Hope growled, but Josie still detected the exhaustion in her voice.

“Don’t worry, you won’t have to hear it much longer,” Clarke said, stumbling towards her.

With a flick of her hand, Josie sent him tumbling to the ground. But even then, she felt her magic waver. She was still drained from the spell she’d done earlier, and without a new source to siphon from, the magic she had stored would be gone in minutes. She knew she didn’t have much left, but it didn’t matter. She’d use all of it if it meant Hope would be safe.

Clarke tried to stand, and Josie forced her magic to hold. Hope was still on the ground, struggling to rise, but Josie couldn’t help her, not when all of her concentration was on keeping Clarke down. 

It was no use. A few more moments of his thrashing, and then the tether to her magic snapped. Josie grappled for it, but it was gone. 

Clarke was crawling across the ground, searching for the trident, and then his hand closed around the handle. 

Josie did the only thing she could think of. 

She dove, biting back her bark of pain as her knees scraped against the dirt, her hands gripping Clarke’s as she tried to wrest the trident from his grasp. His hold loosened for a moment, but before she could grab it, Josie felt a flash of burning pain as his hand struck her across the face.

She hit the ground, her fingers falling away from the cold metal of the trident, hating the whimper that escaped her as she clutched her cheek. 

Josie forced herself to her feet, fighting past the ache radiating from where Clarke had hit her, but before she could he kicked her in the stomach. 

She tumbled backward, her back hitting the ground as she sucked in a shuddering breath, suddenly winded. Distantly, she wondered if this was how Hope felt in a fight. Probably not, since she was usually winning.

“I just don’t get it,” Clarke said as he got to his feet, staring down at her with disdain as Josie struggled to breath. “What _does_ Hope see in you?”

Another kick to her ribs, and this time, Josie screamed. The pain was horrible, worse than anything she’d experienced before, worse than the Malivore bullet that had almost killed her. 

She groaned, curling in on herself as Clarke continued to taunt her. ”Without you’re magic, you’re nothing. _Someone_ always has to swoop in and save you, and the one time you try to save her, you fail. You’re _pathetic_.” 

Josie wanted to argue with him, but even if she’d been able to speak past the pain in her chest, what would she say? He was right. Without her magic, she was nothing. She couldn’t save Hope, she couldn’t even save herself.

She understood it then, why Hope was always the one to save everyone. It was because she never thought about her own safety, never stopped to consider that she was risking her life when she fought a monster or stared down a gun barrel and laughed.

It was why she’d been able to jump into Malivore.

Josie wasn’t like her. She wasn’t brave, she wasn’t selfless. Maybe in the small ways, like letting her sister have the spotlight, or putting a friend’s happiness before her own, but she didn’t have it in her to make the big sacrifice, to lose everything.

It was why when Hope had told her that her death was the answer to stopping Malivore, Josie had begged her not to do it. It was why Josie had denied the instinct that told her she knew who Hope was when they’d first met in the town square, why she’d questioned whether or not to bring everyone’s memories back, why she’d ignored her feelings for Hope and been such a _bitch_ to her all day instead of just telling her the truth. 

Did that make her selfish? Yes, it did. But maybe she could make up for it, for all the pain she’d caused Hope. 

“I don’t care about me,” she said, hissing at the vicious ache in her chest as she got to her feet. “I only care about her.”

As she said the words, she knew it was the truth.

Clarke chuckled, raising his arm to hit her again, and Josie braced herself for it, but she didn’t have to.

Because Hope lunged, wrapping her hands around Clarke’s wrist as she brought him to his knees. Clarke tried to stand, but she didn’t give him a chance, and Josie saw the utter rage on her face as she slammed her shackled wrists into his face.

Metal met bone, and Clarke’s jaw snapped to the side. Josie didn’t even flinch, didn’t feel one ounce of remorse. Hope punched him again, this time with her fist, and he grunted in pain. 

Hope went in for another blow, but Clarke was faster, his knee slamming into her head. Another kick, bone against bone, and Hope screamed. This time, Josie did flinch.

“Sorry, Hope,” Clarke said, panting as he watched her crumple to the ground, trident in hand as he loomed over her. “It’s nothing personal—“

“Hope, run!” Josie screamed, surging forward to wrap an arm around Clarke’s throat, cringing as her hands touched his cold, sweat-soaked skin. 

It didn’t matter. Clarke elbowed her in the side, and Josie’s grip faltered, but not before she managed to say, “You don’t need her, take me instead.”

“Josie, no!” Hope yelled, her eyes wide and desperate as she watched Josie struggle against Clarke, his hands digging into her arms. “Don’t you _dare_.”

Clarke stilled, considering her offer, and Josie shuddered when he tugged her against his chest. Slowly, a grin spread across his face, and Josie knew she’d won. Or lost, depending on how you looked at things. 

“I did say I wanted payback,” he said, smirking at Hope’s horrified expression. “This is for you, Hope.”

Josie closed her eyes, bracing herself for the pain of her soul being ripped from her body as Clarke raised the trident—

There was the sharp sound of chains snapping, and Clarke froze against her as Hope snarled.

“Get your hands _off_ of her,” she said, and Josie opened her eyes just in time to glimpse the pure, unchecked rage in Hope’s own, which were now glowing a hot, molten gold.

The shackles were at her feet, and Josie didn’t have to be a wolf or a vampire to sense Clarke’s fear. If her voice, low and definitely not entirely human, wasn’t enough to scare someone, the look on Hope’s face would finish the job. If Hope had looked at her like that, Josie would have started begging for mercy.

“You seemed to have forgotten Clarke,” she crooned, her eyes narrowing when she saw that he still hadn’t released Josie. “I’m not just a witch.”

As if he’d finally realized that he no longer had the upper hand, Clarke let her go, raising his arms in a placating gesture as Josie stumbled away from him. 

“You’re gonna whammy me, aren’t you?” He asked, and Josie saw the resignation and dead cross his face as he looked for an escape and found none. 

“I am,” Hope said, baring her teeth at him as she crafted a glowing orb that teemed with crackling energy in her hands. “And I’m going to _enjoy_ it.” 

There was some hidden meaning behind those words, a slight Hope had managed to work into the conversation, and Josie saw Clarke grit his teeth. 

“Kind of makes the whole sacrifice less romantic, though, doesn’t it?” He asked, glancing a Josie, smirking despite Hope’s wrath and his inevitable defeat. “I mean, are you sure she wouldn’t do the same thing for her boyfri—“

He didn’t get to finish his taunt, because Hope snarled, the ball of light in her hands exploding and sending him flying across the clearing.

Clarke didn’t rise again, unconscious or dead depending on what Hope had intended, and a wicked grin spread across her face. 

But his final words lingered in the air between them, and Josie didn’t smile. They might have defeated Clarke, but she didn’t know if the damage between her and Hope would be so easy to repair. 

° ° °

“Can I get you anything? Aspirin? Ice? Sparkling soda?”

Josie was sitting in bed, wearing her favorite pair of silk pajamas after a _much_ needed shower, as Lizzie fussed over her and fluffed pillows.

She’d been like this since Josie and Hope had returned to the school, Hope’s arm wrapped around her shoulder, though she didn’t know who had been supporting who. Lizzie had been panicking, and the hug she’d given both of them had been strong enough to break Josie’s ribs if they weren’t already. 

It was nice, but also a tad suffocating.

“No,” she told her sister, shaking her head. “But you can sit down.”

Lizzie sighed, and sat down next to Josie on the bed. “I’m sorry I didn’t have your back today,” she said, and Josie realized what all of her fussing was about. “And I’m really glad that you’re okay.” 

Josie smiled at her, opening her mouth to say that she didn’t have to apologize, when someone knocked on the door.

It creaked opened, and Josie’s heart jumped to her throat when she saw who was standing in the doorway.

“Uh, hi,” Hope said, hesitating as she hovered in the threshold, as if she was unsure if she was welcome or not. “Can I talk to Josie for a sec?”

Lizzie turned to her, a question in her eyes, but Josie just nodded. 

“I’ll go and get some ice,” she said, rising from the bed even as she glanced between Hope and Josie, as if worried they’d start brawling if she left them alone.

She didn’t have to worry. Josie was in no shape for fighting, as even if she was, the anger she’d carried tight to her chest all day was gone. Perhaps it was the magic she’d done at Clarke’s behest, but Josie knew it had more to do with the girl standing in front of her.

Hope walked towards her, and Josie forced herself to look at her. _Really_ look at her, not the quick glances she’d been stealing all day, afraid of what she might see if she looked too close. 

She was still wearing the same clothes as earlier, jeans and a dark green shirt and a leather jacket. The color had returned to her cheeks, though Josie didn’t miss the exhaustion on her face, in her slumped shoulders.

“How are you feeling?” Hope asked, and something in Josie‘s chest went molten at the sound of her voice.

“Used,” she admitted, and Hope frowned. “But I’m glad you’re okay.”

It was the truth. She felt awful, despite the healing tonic she’d taken that would mend all of her injuries by morning, but it didn’t seem to matter now that Hope was standing in front of her, alive and breathing. 

Hope looked at her then, her gaze softening, the corners of her mouth turning upwards into the ghost of a smile. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Josie said, searching for the right word to describe how she was feeling. “Yeah, I’m just a little... drained.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling,” Hope said, scoffing under her breath.

“Yeah, you should get some rest,” Josie told her, unable to get the image of Clarke’s hands around Hope’s throat out of her mind. There were no bruises on her skin, a side effect of her Tribrid nature, but Josie still felt guilty. Her foolish plan to defeat Malivore was the reason Hope had been left inside the school, drained of blood and defenseless. If something had happened to her—

“Oh, yeah, I will,” Hope reassured her, and Josie watched as she moved closer before sitting down on the bed, trying to ignore the fact that her heart was suddenly racing, her palms sweaty.

“I wanted to know if it was okay with you if I came back to school.”

Out of all the things Josie had expected Hope to say, that wasn’t it.

But Hope’s gaze was searching, hesitant, and Josie realized she meant it.

“I miss it,” she said, shrugging, though the gesture didn’t fool Josie. This meant something to Hope, this place. She didn’t need Hope to tell her that, and she hated that she felt like she had to explain. 

“I miss my classes,” she continued, her smile soft, wistful. “I miss morning meetings. Super squad. I even miss Lizzie being mean to me.”

She laughed at that one, and Josie smiled, even though her heart was aching for Hope, for everything she’d given up.

But Hope wasn’t done.

“I miss _you_ ,” she said, the emotion in her gaze enough to make Josie’s knees buckle if she’d been standing as Hope studied every inch of her like she wanted to commit her to memory. “But, I won’t come back if my being here, brings you anymore pain.”

Josie bit her lip, trying to find the right words to respond to that, to make Hope understand that her coming back to school wouldn’t be painful for Josie, not even a little bit. And even if it had, it wouldn’t matter. Hope deserved to be where she belonged, even if that meant Josie was unhappy. 

She was interrupted, however, by the all too familiar sound of pen scratching against paper.

“What’s that?” Hope asked, her brow crinkling as she searched for the source of the noise. 

“Penelope’s Burn Book,” Josie told her, reaching over to grab the journal from the nightstand. “Somebody must be using her pen.”

She opened the book, rifling through the pages, eager to find out who was writing in the diary so that she could return to her conversation with Hope, but she paused when she saw the familiar handwriting on the last page.

_Dear Josie,_

_I learned today that no matter how hard we try, we can’t solve the Malivore problem. I’m sorry to do this, I really wanted to avoid this pain, but it’s been long enough. And sometimes, pain is unavoidable. I’ve come to the realization that monsters aren’t the only problem. I’m the problem, too. I am at the center of all this heartache—_

“What is it?” Hope asked, no doubt having noticed the expression on Josie’s face, the tears she knew were gathering in her eyes.

“It’s Landon,” she said, trying to keep her voice from breaking as she set the journal down on the bed.

Hope seemed to take that as an invitation, because she scooched over, close enough that Josie could smell that familiar scent of jasmine, sage, and the faintest traces of fresh rain and soil, like she carried the woods with her wherever she went. 

It wasn’t enough to distract her from the words on the page, the words she knew Hope was now reading over her shoulder. 

_So, I have to leave Mystic Falls knowing they’ll follow me. I have to let you live your lives without monsters, and without me. I hope you can forgive me for this someday, but I understand if you don’t._

_With love and regret,_   
_Landon_

When Landon’s name was scrawled across the page, Josie slammed the diary closed. She was done, she didn’t need to read anymore.

Landon was gone. He’d _left_.

_Why did everyone always leave?_

_Not everyone,_ said a different voice in the back of her mind. Hope had left, but she’d come back. 

And Hope wasn’t Landon. She’d made her decision because she thought that it was their only option, because she was too damn selfless to put her own happiness before the safety of others, of the world. Josie remembered that phone call now. She remembered everything. 

_I’m doing this for you, Josie. For everyone. Once Malivore’s gone, you’ll all be safe._

_I love you, Josie._

_Promise me._

This is what she’d been afraid of. This unraveling, this tidal wave of emotions. But not anymore. 

Josie reached out and slid in her hand into Hope’s, and Hope looked at her, her expression the most vulnerable Josie had ever seen it. She knew that if she wanted to, she could say something that would hurt her enough that she wouldn’t recover from it. She could tell her to leave, and Hope would do it.

But she didn’t want Hope to leave. Not now, not ever.

“He made his choice,” she told her, shrugging as she forced herself to forget about Landon, erasing his parting words from her memory. “We can make our own.”

_I’ve made mine._

But she didn’t say that, because she wanted that moment to be untainted, and the wound Landon had left was still too fresh. 

And because she needed Hope to understand that while Josie wanted her here, she belonged at the school no matter what happened between them. 

“You belong here,” she said, her voice leaving no room for arguments. “I want you to stay.”

She knew she’d said the right thing, because Hope’s eyes started to water, a tear falling down her cheek as she smiled at Josie. She closed her eyes, nodding to herself, as if she’d been waiting for Josie to say those words. “I’m really sorry,” she said after a moment, her grip on Josie’s hand tightening.

Josie read the unspoken words in her gaze. Hope was sorry for leaving, for making Josie forget her, for not telling her she was back. For Landon leaving, too. Even if it wasn’t her fault.

“Yeah, me too,” Josie said, smiling at Hope, and she was unable to resist the urge to touch her as she pulled Hope into a hug.

Hope’s arms wrapped around her, that familiar warmth and silent strength settling over Josie as Hope rested her head on her shoulder. 

Josie allowed herself a single selfish moment to enjoy it, to breath Hope’s scent into her lungs and forget anything else existed. Landon, the Merge, Malivore... for a moment, it didn’t matter, and all Josie could think of was Hope and how much she wanted to kiss her. 

The moment ended when Lizzie appeared in the doorway with three spoons, a tub of ice cream, and a knowing smirk on her face. “Something told me I needed to upgrade from ice, to ice cream.”

Hope laughed, and Josie tried to ignore the cold that entered her bones as Hope shifted away from her to make room for Lizzie on the bed.

She set Penelope’s journal on the nightstand as Lizzie said, “I can tell we are all feeling a lot of emotions right now.”

Well, that was an understatement.

Lizzie offered them each a spoon, and the heat in Josie’s chest rekindled when her and Hope’s fingers brushed. 

She couldn’t help herself. She smirked at Hope, well aware of the heat and longing in her gaze. 

And as Lizzie started to rant about Sebastian, Hope smirked back at her.


	8. we don’t have tomorrow (so don’t ruin now)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was the most awkward she and Josie had ever been, even when Josie had forgotten she existed, but Hope pretended that it was normal. She nodded at Josie, forcing a smile on her face as she watched her walk away from her.
> 
> It would hurt, but if Josie wanted to choose Landon, Hope wasn’t going to stop her.
> 
> She’d step back. Like she always did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took me forever to update oops
> 
> for this chapter, i kept the krampus storyline but hope gets infected like everyone else. i was disappointed that there was never a moment in season two where people had to save hope instead of her saving them, and i wanted to explore how josie and the other characters would solve a problem without hope there to take charge. i hope that makes sense, let me know if you have any other questions! also no santa because i can’t handle klaus mikaelson and santa existing in the same universe lmao.

“Well, isn’t this... cozy,” Hope said, studying the cell Clarke was confined to with a smirk as she entered the school’s root cellar and leaned against the wall. 

Maybe it made her petty and vindictive, but she _had_ come to gloat. Sue her. 

Clarke scowled at her, and Hope asked, “I’m curious, which form of punishment do you prefer? An eternity in a black pit of mud, or being locked in a cell?”

“Actually, I’m glad you’re here,” Clarke said, ignoring her taunt even as he gritted his teeth. “I thought you’d be busy _reuniting_ with your girlfriend.”

Hope heard the innuendo in his voice, but she ignored it. She wasn’t here to discuss her relationship status. Clarke had caused enough damage last night, she didn’t want to give him anymore ammunition. 

“Josie’s the reason I’m here,” Hope said as she stalked towards him. “You’re going to pay for manipulating her, for hurting her.”

“Now, Hope, there’s no reason to get angry,” Clarke said, though she saw the fear in his eyes. Good. He should be afraid of her, especially after what he’d done to Josie. Hope hadn’t missed her winces of pain, even though Josie had tried to hide them from her. “To be honest, I’m glad you’re here.”

“You clearly hate me, so I can’t imagine why,” she scoffed, shaking her head. 

“Because there’s still time for you to come to your senses before you toss me into the pit.”

Did he honestly think that she would save him? Please. 

“One, it’s more of a ditch,” she corrected, stopping before the cell bars. “Two, I’m kind of looking forward to it.”

“Save your breath, Clarke,” she crooned, because she wanted him to understand that he was doomed, to be afraid. Like she had been. “There’s no one coming to save you. You’re going into a grave you dug for yourself.”

And with that, she turned and left Clarke standing in the cell, alone.

° ° °

Hope shut the cellar door behind her, scanning the hallway for any sign of Josie, when she looked outside the window and saw that it was... snowing?

No, it wasn’t just snowing, it had _snowed_ , she realized as she opened the front door. The ground was covered in at least a foot of it, and apparently everyone had decided to start sledding and building snowman instead of figuring out why it was snowing in the middle of October in Virginia. 

Hope didn’t even notice the snowball hurtling towards her until it collided with her chest. When she looked up, Kaleb was staring at her, and he winced when he saw the expression on her face.

“Kaleb?” She yelled, storming towards him through the snow. “What the hell is going on?” 

“Don’t be a Scrooge, Hope,” he said, grinning at her. “It’s Christmas!”

Hope frowned, shaking her head. “No, it’s _October_.”

“Christmas is a state of mind,” Kaleb said, throwing an arm around her shoulders. “It’s a feeling in the air! Don’t ya feel it?”

Hope opened her mouth to say _no_ , but as if Kaleb’s words had triggered it, she actually _did_ feel different. 

Kaleb was right. It was as if all of her problems faded away, any anxiety or stress vanishing into the snowflake filled air.

“Now, ya feeling it, aren’t you?” Kaleb asked, beaming at her and patting Hope on the back, and she couldn’t resist the grin that spread across her face.

It was Christmas, after all. 

° ° °

When Josie arrived downstairs, it was as if Christmas had exploded in the front hall.

A giant, sparkling Christmas tree was in the center of the room, surrounded by heaps of presents. Kids were drinking hot cocoa, wearing Christmas sweaters, and outside... it was _snowing_.

She needed to find Hope. Whatever was going on, it was obviously Malivore related.

Her dad and Dorian appeared, laughing with their arms around each other, and Josie sighed in relief. “Oh, Dad, thank god. I need your help. Everyone’s gone crazy, they all think that it’s Christ—“

She stopped explaining when she saw what he was wearing. “Is that a Christmas sweater?”

“Dorian had an extra one,” he said, grinning at her. “Lucky me, right?”

“No, Ric, we’re the lucky ones,” Dorian said, turning to address the room. “Because Dr. Saltzman is gonna spend Christmas with us!”

“Dad,” she said as the students cheered. “I need you to snap out of it, okay? None of this is real.”

“Oh, Josie, c’mon,” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder with a condescending look. “It’s Christmas, try to enjoy it.”

So, her dad was infected too. Wonderful.

“Have you seen Hope?” She asked him, even though she doubted she’d get a coherent response. “I can’t find her anywhere.”

Her dad shook his head before joining Dorian in front of the fire, and Josie sighed. 

If she couldn’t find Hope, she’d just have to get backup elsewhere. 

° ° °

“Lizzie!” Josie yelled, bursting through the door to their room to find her sister still in bed, asleep.

“Josie!” Lizzie groaned, lifting her head to look at her before burying it in her sheets. “If I have to listen to you confess your undying love for Hope again, I will send her back to Malivore myself. She’s your girlfriend, go bother her and let me sleep.”

Josie sighed, too relieved to mind Lizzie’s teasing as she said, “So, you’re still a bitch! Thank god.”

Even then, Lizzie’s words still hit a little too close to home. It was true, she and Hope had talked and made up, but they weren’t _technically_ back together yet. Or were they? Honestly, she didn’t know. 

Brushing the thought of her current relationship status aside, Josie hurried over to the bed and pulled Lizzie into a hug.

“What is happening?” Lizzie asked, sounding confused as hell even as she wrapped her arms around Josie.

“I don’t know,” Josie admitted. “It’s like everyone in the school is happy except for us.”

“Well, that’s not new—“

“Lizzie,” Josie said, glaring at her sister to make her understand that this was serious. “They’re _too_ happy. Like, scary happy. Merry, even. They all think that it’s Christmas, and the snow probably doesn’t help.”

“It’s snowing!?” Lizzie shrieked, yanking the curtains away from the window. “How?”

“Uh, another monster, I’m guessing? We need to find—“

“This is terrible news!” Lizzie exclaimed, interrupting her. “It’s freaking fall, not winter! What am I gonna wear?”

She hurried over to the dresser, rummaging through the drawers, frantically grabbing sweaters and knee-high socks.

Josie sighed, rolling her eyes. Honestly, what had she expected? 

“Something to travel in,” she suggested, wincing when she saw Lizzie’s expression. “I’m gonna need you to hit the road.”

She and Hope could handle Christmas-Armageddon, but she needed Lizzie to handle their... other problem.

Lizzie groaned, slamming the drawer shut. “You want me to quest for Frodo Baggins, don’t you? I thought that the monsters weren’t after him now.”

“We don’t know what they want,” Josie argued. “Or even who they’re working for anymore. I just need Landon to be safe.”

Yes, he’d left, and given her the shittiest goodbye letter she’d ever read. What was worse, dumping someone over voicemail or through their ex’s burn book? Josie would take the former if given the choice, or in _person_ , but remembering Hope hadn’t erased her memories of Landon. And she still cared about him; the last thing she wanted was for him to get hurt. 

Lizzie studied Josie, and she must have seen the genuine worry on her face, because she sighed and moved to sit on the bed, clothes in hand. “Fine,” she agreed, and Josie felt a rush of relief. “A little locator spell, and off to Modor I go.”

Maybe Josie should do a locator spell to find Hope, because she had no idea—

“Ho, ho, ho!”

Oh, no. This was _not_ happening. 

Josie lifted her head as slowly as possible, dread coiling in her stomach. 

It was worse than she’d thought it would be. Hope was standing in the doorway, wearing a fuzzy red sweater and a black jean skirt with _bows_ on the sides, and her socks... were those candy canes?

The worst part was the smile on her face, painful and forced and far-too-wide to be natural. It was like slug-drunk Hope had been infused with the Christmas spirit, and Josie instantly hated it.

“I come bearing gifts!” She said, practically squealing as she flashed that awful smile and offered them a plate of cookies. “Cookie?”

“Hope?” Lizzie asked, staring at her as if she’d grown a second head. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Nothing, silly,” Hope scoffed, shaking her head, though the smile didn’t leave her face. “It’s _Christmas_ , why wouldn’t I be in a good mood?”

Lizzie looked at Josie, and her expression clearly said: _What the fuck?_

Josie was still struggling to speak, but she shared the sentiment. 

Hope didn’t seem to notice, or she just didn’t care, because she kept talking. “This whole school year I have been a such a _downer_ , ya know? I have not been the supportive, loving girlfriend and friend that I want to be. I mean lying to you all, hiding my existence, being jealous of Landon and Josie’s happiness? That was _very_ naughty. Thankfully, Christmas is all about forgiveness, right?”

Josie didn’t know where the hell she was supposed to go with that, so she just grimaced, ignoring Lizzie’s horrified expression. Who knew Hope being merry could be so disturbing? 

“Run,” she advised, leaning forward to whisper the word in Lizzie’s ear.

Her sister didn’t need to be told twice, wincing as she slipped past Hope, giving Josie a _good luck_ look over her shoulder. 

Josie sighed, smiling as she turned to Hope and said, “What kind of cookie?”

° ° °

Josie was fine. Everything was fine.

The entire school had been transformed into the set of a Hallmark movie, her sister was chasing after her possibly-ex-boyfriend, and Hope was infected with the Christmas spirit and acting as if she was drunk on eggnog and _merriness_. 

But Josie was fine. Except for the fact that if she heard one more student sing a Christmas carol, she was going to kill herself. 

Her pencil snapped against the paper, and Josie looked up at the witches singing _Deck the Halls_ in the corner of the library. “Okay, that’s it!” She screamed, throwing the shards of pencil onto the table. “I’m trying to work! So, if you don’t fa-la-la-la leave, I’m gonna to give you all another piercing!”

The kids cringed, muttering apologies as they ran from the library. Okay, maybe she could have been a _tad_ nicer.

“Woah, Josie!” Kaleb said, appearing with a punch bowl of eggnog. “Looks like someone could use a little help getting in the spirit!”

“If you want to help, find a way for me to get Hope back,” Josie told him, sighing as she flipped through the pages of _Conpendium Monstrum._

“So, that’s a neg on the nog?”

“I need to figure out what monsters making everyone so freaking merry!” Josie grumbled. “And then kill it.”

“Woah!” Kaleb gasped, cradling his bowl of eggnog. “That’s naughty as hell, Josie! I gotta do all that I can to make it on Santa’s nice list.”

She didn’t want to, but Josie still asked. “Why?”

“‘Cause I’ve been asking for this one thing every Christmas and I never got it, but I’m hoping this is the year.“

“Oh, come on!” Kaleb said at her unimpressed expression, rolling his eyes. “There isn’t _one thing_ that you want for Christmas?”

Josie shook her head, though honestly, she didn’t even know what she _would_ wish for. Maybe that was the problem, the reason she wasn’t infected like everyone else. She had no idea what she wanted. _Who_ she wanted. 

“Oh, hell yeah!” Kaleb said, sipping eggnog from the ladle. “You sure you won’t hit this?”

“Kaleb, if I start hitting stuff now, I might never stop.”

° ° °

“Ho, ho, ho!” Hope cheered, hopping down the stairs to the school basement and entering Clarke’s cell. “Merry Christmas!”

Clarke scowled at her, looking confused. “What the hell are you talking about? It’s October.”

 _What was wrong with everyone today?_ _First Josie, now Clarke. It was Christmas, why were they being so pissy about it?_

Hope brushed the thought aside, and it faded into the background of her mind. She didn’t know why she’d wasted so much time being sad and wallowing in self-pity since she’d returned from Malivore, being happy was much more fun. 

Of course, it would a lot _more_ fun if Josie joined her. She’d tried to convince her to build a snowman with her, but Josie had refused and said she had research to do. She’d said it almost hopefully, like she thought Hope would want to join her. She didn’t understand why. Who wanted to do research on Christmas?

So, she’d decided that she would have to find some other way to entertain herself.

“Don’t be a Grinch, Clarke!” She chided, shaking her head as she offered him the cookie platter. “Christmas is all about forgiveness, right? So, consider this a peace offering.”

“What the hell is this?” Clarke asked, staring at Hope as if she were some alien life form. “ _You_ want to make amends? What happened to “no one’s coming to save you”?”

“Oh, I was in a mood earlier,” Hope said, dismissing him with a wave of her hand. “But I realized how awful I’ve been to you. I mean you tried to apologize, and I didn’t even listen. That is _so_ not nice.”

Clarke frowned at her. “Is this some sort of trick? Making me let my guard down before you throw me into the pit?”

“No, of course not!” Hope said with a laugh. “I just want to make peace.”

“Why the hell would you want that? I tried to kill you, remember? And don’t you want to be with your girlfriend?”

“Let old acquaintance be forgot, right?” Hope suggested, though he still looked skeptical. “Besides, I _tried_ to be with Josie but she is _not_ in the Christmas spirit.”

“I’ve never even had a Christmas,” Clarke admitted, looking almost sad. “I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

“Wait, you’ve never had Christmas?” Hope asked, frowning.

“No,” he said with a shrug. “My father is a pit of mud, what did you expect?”

Hope had an idea. With a wave of her hand, the cell door opened.

“You’re letting me out?” Clarke asked, eyes wide with disbelief.

“Everyone deserves a second chance, right?” Hope said, her smile encouraging. “And I couldn’t live with myself knowing you’ve never had a proper Christmas.” 

Clarke studied her, and he finally seemed to believe she meant what she said, a smirk spreading across his face. “You know, Hope, I am so glad you’re starting to see things my way.”

° ° °

When Josie found Hope, she was standing next to the last person Josie would have expected to see her with.

“Clarke?” She asked, unable to keep herself from flinching at the sight of him, surrounded by laughing children and stuffing his face with mashed potatoes as if he hadn’t tried to kill her yesterday. “What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were locked up.”

“Oh, I was,” he said, grinning at her over a slice of cranberry sauce. “But then your little girlfriend let me out.”

Josie turned to Hope, who was staring at Josie and Clarke, as if confused by the obvious the tension between them. “Hope, he tried to kill you. Why the hell would you let him escape? Did he do something to you, are you—“

“Relax, Jo,” Hope said, smiling at her as she moved closer and took Josie’s hand. “He didn’t do anything to me, I’m fine. I just thought that we could all enjoy the festivities together. Did you know Clarke has never had a Christmas, I mean honestly—“

“Hope, that’s the point, you are _not_ fine,” Josie hissed, forcing Hope to look her in the eyes. “You’ve been infected, just like everyone else. There’s a monster somewhere in the school, and we have to find it. That’s why you’re acting like this.”

Hope shook her head, that infuriating smile still on her face. “It’s Christmas, Jo. This used to be my favorite holiday when I was a kid, can’t we just enjoy it? Together?”

Josie sighed, finding it difficult to say no to Hope when she was looking at her like _that_. 

“C’mon,” Hope begged, tugging her towards the fireplace. “There’s this tradition my family used to do every Christmas, I told Dorian about it. We write down our wishes and throw them in the fire, for luck! I already have mine, but why don’t you do yours? I can think of _one_ thing I want for Christmas—“

Suddenly, it was all too much. She heard the obvious suggestion in Hope’s voice, saw the hazy desire in her eyes, and Josie snapped. “God, Hope, I don’t want to make a stupid wish! It’s not Christmas, and _this isn’t you_ , and I hate it. So, can you please just come back?”

It was a relief to voice the irritation and anxiety she’d been carrying around all day, but then she saw the crestfallen expression on Hope’s face.

She winced, entering damage control mode. “Hope, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—“

But she just sighed, rolling her eyes and pulling away from Josie. “I don’t understand why you’re making such a big deal out of this. I’m _happy_ , Jo. What’s the problem?”  
  
Josie faltered at Hope’s hurt, bewildered expression. God, this was awful. 

“Of course I want you to be happy, Hope,” Josie told her, praying that Hope would understand and _snap out of it.”_ But not like this.”

Hope scowled at her, turning her back on Josie and slipping into the crowd, and it honestly felt like she’d just kicked a puppy.

Josie groaned, leaning against a table covered in different Christmas dishes. That had _not_ gone like she had hoped it would.   
  
“Trouble in paradise?”

Leaning against the wall, smirking at her, was the last person Josie wanted to deal with at the moment. 

Clarke.

“I thought the honeymoon phase would last longer than that,” Clarke sighed, shaking his head. “Or maybe she’s already tired of you, just like my idiot brother.”

“Shut up,” Josie snapped, glaring at him, though there was still a part of her that wanted to get as far away from him as possible. The not-so-brave part, the one that was replaying all of his lies and manipulations on a loop in her head, the moment that she’d opened her eyes and seen him grinning at her before she’d fainted.

Clarke must have noticed her unease, because he stalked closer, until he was in her personal space. “I mean, can you blame her? Hope finally gets rid of that stick that’s always lodged up her ass, and you can’t even be happy for her.”

Josie ignored him, willing herself not to rise to the bait. That was not what this was, and he knew it. 

When it was clear she wasn’t going to respond, Clarke asked, “I’m curious, why weren’t you infected? I know why I’m miserable, but what about you?”

“I don’t know,” Josie admitted, straightening the tablecloth to avoid his gaze. It was the truth, she had no idea why she wasn’t infected like the rest of them. “And if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”

“I have to say, if this is how you treat your ex-girlfriend, I can see why Landon abandoned you.”

The words caught her by surprise, and she knew Clarke’s taunt had found it’s mark. She had been trying to avoid thinking about it, that Landon had left her without even saying goodbye. But with Hope acting like this, there was nothing to distract her from that pain anymore. 

“Shut up,” she snarled again, searching for the response that would hurt him the most. “I can see why your father prefers him over you, at least Landon knows how to be quiet.”

“Oh, it seems I’ve hit a nerve,” he said, chuckling with glee, unfazed by her retort. “Don’t tell me you’re still pining over my loser brother? Are you seriously going to choose him over _Hope_?”

“I’m not talking about this with you,” Josie muttered, turning her back on him.

Clarke’s hand clamped down on her shoulder to spin her around, and Josie flinched, her back slamming into the table as she stumbled away from him. His touch made her feel like worms were crawling over her skin, and she shuddered at the disturbing sensation. 

Clarke just laughed, raising his hands into the air as he backed away. “Relax, we’re all friends here,” he said, grinning at her reaction. “I mean, just between us girls: who are you going to pick?”

Josie scoffed, glaring at the overflowing plate in his hands with disgust. “You really are the son of a bottomless pit, aren’t you?”

It was deflection at it’s finest, but Clarke let her get away with it. “You know,” he said, setting down his plate and plucking a slip of paper off of the table. “I might be able to help you with your monster problem.”

Josie wanted nothing more than to refuse his help, to lock him in a cell and never see him again, but the truth was that she had no better options. So, she raised her eyebrows at him, and gave him a look that said: _Well? I’m waiting._

“My best guess, it’s the Krampus,” Clarke said, grinning at her. 

“What the hell is a Krampus?” Josie asked as he leaned down to write something on the paper he’d grabbed.

“It’s the monster that brought all this snow and ice to town,” he explained, walking towards the fireplace, prompting Josie to follow him. “Think of it as the anti-Santa. Santa Claus rewards good boys and girls, right? Well, the Krampus does the opposite. It seeks out hatred and anger, instead of peace and joy.”

“We’re literally surrounded by peace and joy,” Josie pointed out.

In response, Clarke threw his piece of paper into the fireplace, and said, “Not for long.”

Clarke was looking far too pleased with himself. “What the hell did you just do?” She demanded, hoping her glare was intimidating enough. 

“I decided to take a page out of your girlfriend’s playbook,” he said, smirking at her. “I found another loophole.”

° ° °

Josie shoved Clarke into the library, and with a wave of her hand, the door shut and locked behind them. 

“You’re spelled inside this room,” she told him, unable to contain her rage. He’d tricked her, but what had she expected? Hope never should have let him out of his cell. “Now, what _exactly_ did you wish for?”

“You’ll find out soon enough,” he said, shrugging. “Because, as you can attest, I’ve been a very bad boy this year—“

Josie raised her fist, and Clarke started to choke, clutching at his throat as she sucked the air from his lungs. A little payback, for strangling Hope. And a form of persuasion. 

“Now, I’ll ask again. What did you _wish_ for?” She hissed, squeezing her fist a little tighter. 

“A savior,” he gasped, still struggling to breathe. Josie released her hold on him, gesturing for him to elaborate. “You want to protect Landon, right? Well, don’t worry, the Krampus is coming to rescue me, instead of going after him. And it’ll kill anyone dumb enough to get in it’s way.”

“Not if we’re ready for it,” Josie argued, though it was a relief to know Landon would be safe.

“And how are you going to manage that?” Clarke asked, smirking at her. “The entire school is full of kids drunk on Christmas cheer, your father is running around _actually_ drunk believing that Santa Claus is real. And Hope...”

He paused, taking in the expression on Josie’s face when he mentioned Hope’s name. He must have liked what he saw, because he smiled. “Hope is just as clueless as the rest of them, she isn’t coming to save you this time. Do you really think you have what it takes to stop this thing without her?”

“You don’t know her like I do,” Josie said, ignoring the fact that Clarke had just voiced her own fears, that she would never be able to do what Hope did. “If she knows we’re in danger, she’ll snap out of it, I know she will.”

“Good luck getting her to listen to you!” Clarke yelled as she stormed away from  
him, muttering a boundary spell under her breath. “We both know how well that went the last time!”

° ° °

When Josie found Hope, she was in the kitchen, leaning against the counter as she sipped eggnog from a reindeer-shaped mug.

It would be adorable, if not for the threat of the evil Christmas demon hovering over Josie’s head.

“Josie!” Hope said, beaming at her. “You’re here, finally!”

Apparently, Hope was already over their earlier argument.

“I have something for you,” she said, and that’s when Josie noticed the present sitting on the counter. “Go on, open it!”

“Listen, Hope,” Josie said, moving behind the counter to take Hope’s hands, ignoring the gift. “I know that you’re high on Christmas cheer right now, but I really need your help.”

Hope’s eyes were wide, and she looked confused, as if she didn’t understand why Josie was so worried.

“This is _Malivore_ ,” Josie told her, shaking her head in disbelief at Hope. “It’s another monster, a Krampus. Clarke summoned it, and everyone in the school is in danger, so please Hope, I really need you. The _real_ you.”

Hope just stared at her, and for a moment Josie thought she might have gotten through to her, but then she laughed.

“You’re cute when you’re worried,” she said as she pressed her body against Josie’s, her lips finding the skin of Josie’s neck, pressing the ghosts of kisses into her skin. Josie shivered. 

“You’re blushing,” Hope pointed out, nuzzling into the space between Josie’s neck and shoulder, and then she _giggled_. 

Josie should end this, push Hope away, but she couldn’t. Not when she’d wanted this for months, missed it even when she hadn’t known why. Hope’s arms were draped over her shoulders, the scent of her perfume invading her sense, and then she began to trace a line of kisses towards Josie’s mouth— 

_No,_ said the voice in her head. _Not like this._

It was enough for Josie to snap out of it, to remember that she didn’t want her and Hope’s first kiss since she returned to be when she wasn’t in her right mind.

“I can’t do this,” she said, slipping out of Hope’s arms, ignoring her hurt expression. “Not like this. It’s not you, it’s not the Hope I want.”

Josie wanted the real Hope, with her trauma and snide remarks and anger issues. She wanted all of it. 

And she wasn’t going to let some monster take that away from her. 

° ° °

“Can I have everyone’s attention?” Josie asked, addressing the room filled with laughing children and drunken teachers, who all chose to ignore her.

“I need everyone’s attention!” She screamed, and this time everyone listened. Kaleb lifted the needle from the record player, her dad and Dorian stopped laughing, even Pedro seemed to be paying attention.

“I have bad news,” Josie said, realizing how nervous she was now that everyone was looking at her. “A Krampus is headed our way.”

You know in sitcoms, when they play the sound of crickets chirping to fill the silence? Yeah, this was like that.

Everyone gave her a blank stare, shrugged, and then resumed whatever they’d been doing before as the music started to play again. 

Well, if they weren’t going to listen to reason, she’d have to try a different tactic. 

“ _Concido_ ,” she muttered under her breath, using the magic she’d siphoned from Clarke, causing the record player to screech to a halt. With a wave of her hand, the lights on the Christmas tree shot sparks into the air, and the table covered in food exploded. 

Everyone screamed, and when she stopped, it was silent.

“Okay, now that I have everyone’s attention,” she said, though she did feel slightly calmer after her magical outburst. “Santa’s not real, he’s a myth. And you’re all acting like a bunch of _children_.“

For a moment, no one moved, but then her dad said, “She’s right, this is all too good to be true.”

“Dad,” Josie said, breathing a sigh of relief. “Thank god. There is a monster that is responsible for all of this, and we need to stop it.”

He nodded, handing his mug to Dorian and pulling off his Christmas sweater. “You heard her,” he said, addressing the crowd of students, who still looked confused. “Everyone, go to your rooms, initiate lockdown protocol. Dorian, hit the books, figure out how the Krampus operates.” 

Once everyone started to move, he turned to Josie. “We need to set a trap for this thing. Kaleb and MG can help, and Dorian can do research... unless Hope already has a plan?”

Josie shook her head, deflating slightly at the mention of Hope. “No, she doesn’t. Dad, she’s infected like everyone else. I tried to get through to her, but—“

“Josie, it’s okay,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Hope will be fine, we’ll just have to do this one without her.”

Josie sighed, but then she nodded, forcing herself to smile at him. She just hoped she looked more confident than she felt. 

° ° °

Josie had decided that rather than setting a trap of their own for the Krampus, they would just wait for Clarke to summon it.

She was standing outside the library with her Dad when Clarke threw his jacket over the fire, causing black smoke to fill the air. 

The smoke thickened, taking the form of a creature with a hooked nose and beady yellow eyes, it’s skin wrinkled and black as soot.

“Merry Christmas, Krampus!” Clarke said, grinning at the monster. “I believe you have something for me.”

The Krampus bared it’s teeth, as if it was smiling, and then it pulled a metal scythe from the sack slung over it’s shoulder. 

Clarke’s eyes went wide, and Josie realized this wasn’t the rescue he’d been expecting. “That’s not what I asked for,” he said, stammering as he took a step back. “I wanted another trident.”

Without warning, the Krampus struck, stabbing Clarke in the chest with the curved, metal blade. He screamed, falling to the ground and clutching at the bloodied tear in his shirt. 

“What the hell are you doing?” He demanded, but Josie heard the fear in his voice, and knew he understood that his father hadn’t sent the Krampus to save him. “You were supposed to save me!”

In answer, the Krampus lifted the scythe to its mouth and licked his blood from the blade. Josie cringed, shuddering at the sight of the creatures pointed teeth. 

It raised the blade again, and Clarke lifted his hands over his head, but before it could strike, Josie muttered an incantation under her breath and the lights all turned on, illuminating the entire room.

The Krampus flinched, turning to look at her, but before it could attack Josie waved her hand, slamming it into the wall.

Clarke turned to look at her, his eyes wide, and Josie tried to think of something clever to say, but all she managed was, “Now, Dad!”

One shot from her Dad’s crossbow, and the Krampus had an arrow buried in its heart. It fell to the ground, groaning as black blood pooled beneath it, and Josie shuddered.

Her Dad patted her on the back, said _nice job,_ and then he left, mentioning something about finding Dorian to help him bury the body. 

Still, Josie couldn’t help but think that it felt anticlimactic. There was no rush of adrenaline, no sense of victory. Was this how Hope felt after she killed a monster?

Maybe it was because it wasn’t the only monster she had to deal with.

“I hope you’re happy now,” she said to Clarke, crossing her arms and glaring at him. 

“I thought my father was bringing the Krampus to save me,” he said, his mouth twisting into a bitter smile. “But I was wrong. He must have known I was planning to jump into a new body, and screw him over again.”

“How?” 

“I don’t know,” he admitted, shaking his head. “But if you let me go, I promise I will go to the portal and you will never have to see me again.”

“Nice try,” Josie said, scoffing as she turned her back on him. “But I’m never trusting you again.”

“Then, you leave me no choice.”

Before she understood the threat in his words, Clarke’s hand grabbed her arm, pulling her back towards him, and Josie realized what he intended to do as his flesh began to morph into hers. He was consuming her, taking the magic from her body before he killed her to keep himself alive. 

She struggled against his hold, but it was no use. It was as if everything her dad had ever taught her about self-defense left her head, along with all of her offensive spells. Josie opened her mouth to scream for help, but she didn’t have to.

Because there was a metal scythe buried in Clarke’s chest, and his grip on her loosened as he looked over her shoulder and swore. 

Josie turned, still shaking off the horrible sensation of Clarke trying to consume her, and saw Hope standing by the door.

Their eyes met, and Josie couldn’t help the choked sob of relief that left her. Because it was Hope who stalked forward, the _real_ Hope, her eyes flashing golden as she stared at Clarke and said, “I told you that you’d pay for hurting her, and then you try and kill her _again_.”

She didn’t bother with magic, and that’s how Josie knew that Hope was _pissed_. She crouched down, her hand wrapping around his throat, and Clarke started to choke, his own hands still clutching at the blade buried in his chest. “You’re even more stupid than I thought,” Hope snarled, forcing him to meet her gaze with a twitch of her hand.

Clarke tried to speak, but Hope’s magic silenced him before he could form a single word, and she said, “Like I said, I am _so_ tired of hearing your voice.”

Josie watched as she ripped the scythe from Clarke’s chest, and she knew that if he’d been able to, he’d be screaming. Hope rose from her position on the floor, scythe in hand, and whispered, “I’m going to enjoy this.”

Before Clarke could move, Hope’s hand slashed through the air, the scythe a wicked blur of silver.

And then, Clarke’s head hit the floor. 

° ° °

Clarke’s head hit the ground with a dull thud, and then there was only silence.

She could hear the distant hum of the lights, heard Josie say her name, but the sounds barely registered in Hope’s mind.

She’d been standing in the kitchen, sipping eggnog, when the easy happiness she’d allowed to consume her all day had faded and she’d felt like an absolute _idiot_. 

The Krampus was lying on the floor in front of the fireplace, so Hope figured that Josie must have killed it, breaking it’s spell on the school. And on _her_. 

Her back was turned to her, but Hope felt Josie take her hand and pry the scythe from her fingers. It clattered to the floor, and then Josie slid her hand into Hope’s.

“Hey,” she murmured, turning Hope around, the concern on her face clear. “Are you okay?”

Hope nodded, but the look in Josie’s eyes told her she didn’t quite believe her. “Really, I’m fine, it’s just...” she sighed, hesitating, but Josie nodded at her. “I can’t believe I let myself get infected.”

“Even Hope Mikaelson deserves a break from saving everyone else’s asses, right?” Josie asked, and Hope knew she was trying to make her feel better. It wasn’t working.

Hope shook her head, that panic creeping back to the surface. “That’s not the point, Jo. Someone could have gotten hurt, _you_ could have gotten hurt, and I was busy drinking eggnog and believing Santa was real! What if something had happened, what if—“

“But it didn’t,” Josie reminded her, placing a reassuring hand on Hope’s arm, her fingers tracing a soothing pattern in the fabric of Hope’s sweater. “You got here just in time, like always.”

“No,” Hope argued, shaking her head and smiling at Josie. “This was all you.”

Josie shrugged. “I didn’t really do anything, I just—“

“No, hey, if I’m going to forgive myself for acting like a drunken idiot, then you can give yourself some credit for saving the day from _whatever_ the hell that was,” Hope insisted, wrinkling her nose at the horrid looking creature lying in front of the fireplace with an arrow buried in it’s heart. 

Josie chuckled, though Hope still saw the doubt on her face. “Not that I’m jealous or anything,” she said, looking almost nervous. “But why do you think I wasn’t infected?”

“I don’t know,” Hope admitted, shrugging. “Why do you think?”

Josie sighed, staring at her feet and avoiding Hope’s questioning stare, even though she was still holding her hand. “I think... I think it’s because I don’t even know what _would_ make me happy. I wasn’t lying earlier; I have no idea what I would wish for, even if I could.”

Hope nodded, ignoring the pit in her stomach at Josie’s confession. She had known coming back wouldn’t be easy, but after last night... well, she’d thought that Josie might feel the same way she did. But maybe her asking Hope to stay wasn’t because she wanted to _be_ with her, but just Josie being nice, or wanting to be friends. All day, Hope had been waiting for a sign that Josie wanted her as badly as she wanted Josie. But they hadn’t kissed, despite Hope practically _forcing_ herself on Josie in the kitchens.

Hope had even thought Josie might tell her that she loved her, had avoided saying the words to give Josie space, had told herself to be _patient_. She had assumed that Josie would choose her over Landon, but him leaving didn’t mean that she didn’t love _him_ anymore. God, she was such an idiot.

“So,” Hope said, clearing her throat and hoping none of the hurt or anxiety she was feeling showed on her face. “I should probably go take care of the body— bodies. Thanks for your help.”

The words felt stiff, formal, and Josie clearly noticed the change in Hope’s demeanor. The warmth in her eyes faded, and she pulled her hand from Hope’s, clutching it to her chest. “Right,” she said, and Hope told herself that she was imagining the disappoint on her face. “Of course. I‘ll see you... later.”

It was the most awkward she and Josie had ever been, even when Josie had forgotten she existed, but Hope pretended that it was normal. She nodded at Josie, forcing a smile on her face as she watched her walk away from her.

It would hurt, but if Josie wanted to choose Landon, Hope wasn’t going to stop her.

She’d step back. Like she always did. 

° ° °

“So, how is my favorite niece?”

Hope didn’t know why, but after her talk with Josie, after burying Clarke and the Krampus in the woods and changing out of her ridiculous Christmas-themed outfit, she had suddenly felt unbearably _lonely_. 

Hope was used to feeling alone, especially these past few months, so she didn’t know why it had bothered her so much.

Maybe she was just letting Christmas get to her. 

“I’m your _only_ niece,” she said, smirking into the phone. 

“Well, you do have Nik to contend with now.”

Hope laughed, a smile spreading across her face at the sound of her aunt’s voice. She’d missed her. “How’s Marcel?”

“Good,” Rebekah said, the fondness in her voice clear. “He misses you, of course. So do I, when are you coming to visit?”

“Soon,” Hope told her, biting her lip. “I promise.” 

Rebekah hummed thoughtfully, and Hope braced herself. “As much as I appreciate the call, don’t think that this gets you off the hook, Hope. I still expect to hear all about this Malivore business Freya mentioned.”

Hope cringed, though she’d known it was coming the moment she picked up the phone. “I know. I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to worry—“

“Hope, we’re your family,” Rebekah reminded her, her tone firm but not harsh. “It’s our job to worry. So, next time you think about hurling yourself into a hell dimension, call first. Okay?”

Hope nodded, then remembered Rebekah couldn’t see her. “Okay,” she agreed, unable to keep herself from relishing in her aunt’s familiar protectiveness. God, she missed her. “I really miss you, Bex. I miss everyone.”

She didn’t realize she was crying until Rebekah heard her sniffling and said, “Darling, are you alright?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” Hope murmured, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “It’s just this... monster that attacked the school today. It made everyone think it was Christmas, and it just brought back a lot of memories, ya know? It was my favorite holiday before... well, everything. We even did the bonfire; I made a wish.”

Rebekah was silent on the other end of the phone, either because she could sense Hope wasn’t finished, or because she was taking a moment to work past her own grief. 

“When I jumped into Malivore—“ Hope hesitated, struggling to voice the thought she’d kept buried for weeks. “I thought I would see them again.”

“Oh, Hope—“

“I know, I know,” Hope said before Rebekah could finish. “It’s stupid. I just—“

“It’s _not_ stupid,” Rebekah hissed, interrupting her. “Hope, wanting to see your parents again is _nothing_ to be ashamed of. Trust me, I miss them too. But... you know that even though they’re gone, you still have a family, right? You still have us. Me, Marcel, Kol, Davina, Freya. We all care about you, and we would never want to forget you.”

“I know,” Hope whispered, unable to speak past the sudden tightness in her throat. 

“So, what did you wish for?”

She laughed under her breath, knowing Rebekah was trying to lift her spirits. Even if that question... well, it wasn’t so easy to answer. 

“ _That_ ,” she said, sighing. “Is a loaded question.”

“How so?”

“You remember Josie?” Hope asked, already apprehensive about how this conversation was going to go. Any mention of her love life, and all bets were off where Rebekah was concerned. She might just ditch Marcel and fly to Mystic Falls to meet this _Josie_.

“Ah, yes,” Rebekah said, though Hope didn’t know why she sounded so amused. Had Freya already filled her in? They did love to gossip. “That witch that whammied Freya in Rousseau’s?”

Well, Josie hadn’t told her _that_ specific detail when they’d discussed her visit to New Orleans. 

“Yeah, that’s the one,” Hope said, chuckling. Josie had some explaining to do.

Rebekah hummed, already searching for information, like a lioness stalking her prey. In this case, her prey was Hope. “So, what’s the deal with you and this witch? Spill.”

“Well,” Hope sighed, trying to decide where to begin. “Now that she finally remembers that I exist... well, she hated me at first. Then, last night, we talked and I thought everything was okay. I even thought... well, I thought she might want to get back together, but—“

Hope broke off, gnawing on her lip, prompting Rebekah to say, “But what?”

“I don’t know what she wants,” Hope admitted, shaking her head. “And if she wants Landon... I don’t want to get in the way.” 

There was silence, and then Rebekah said, “Hope, that is the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard. If you care about her, then forget the self-sacrificial bullshit and _be with her._ ” 

Hope balked at her harsh tone, struggling to find the words to make Rebekah understand. “It’s not that simple—“

“Yes, it is, trust me,” Rebekah insisted, leaving no room for Hope to argue. “I spent centuries running from the person I was meant to be with, convincing myself it was the right thing to do. Don’t let that be you. _Talk to her._ ” 

“I wouldn’t even know where to begin,” Hope confessed, knowing how pathetic she sounded.

“Do you love her?” Rebekah asked, as if it was that simple.

Hope knew the answer, though, she’d known it for months. It was the one thing she was sure about. “Yes. I do. I think I always have.”

“Then, that’s all you need to know. Everything else will work itself out. Trust me.”

° ° °

After Hope said goodbye to Rebekah, she decided to go outside and get some air before going to find Josie.

Only, she didn’t need to. 

“Hey,” she said, and Josie jumped, whirling around to face her. “What are you doing out here?”

“I just needed some air,” Josie said, shifting from foot to foot as she addressed Hope. The words still sounded too stiff, too careful. Like she was walking on eggshells, scared to say the wrong thing. “Where have you been?”

Hope couldn’t tell if she was just curious, or if that meant Josie had been looking for her. 

“Oh, I was talking to my aunt.” 

_About you,_ were the words she didn’t include.

“Oh, uh, right,” Josie stammered, looking even more jumpy than before. Hope didn’t understand why. “Well, Lizzie’s back... with Landon, that is.”

“Oh, right, of course,” Hope said, not sure what the proper protocol was in this situation. Should she act happy? Sad? Aloof?

“Hope, listen—“

“Josie, it’s fine,” Hope insisted, interrupting her, an apology already on her lips. “I just need to apologize.” 

Josie tilted her head to the side, confused. “Apologize? For what?”

Hope took a step towards her, though she didn’t meet her eyes. “It was wrong of me to assume that everything would just go back to the way it was before. And about what happened today... I wasn’t myself. And if anything I did made you uncomfortable—“

“What are you talking about?” Josie demanded, and Hope didn’t understand why she looked so angry all of a sudden. 

“In the kitchens,” Hope clarified, unsure of herself again, wishing Josie would just let her finish. “When I tried to kiss you.”

Josie opened her mouth, though no words left it, as if Hope was speaking a different language. “Hope, that’s not—“

“No, it was wrong, and I know that,” Hope insisted, though the words caught in her chest. “You’re not responsible for the way you feel. And Landon... he’s a good guy. You deserve him.”

It was silent, the only sounds were the crickets chirping and the Christmas lights humming around them, and then Josie stepped forward.

“Isn’t this the part where you let me down easy?” Hope asked, in spite of herself.

“No,” Josie said, and Hope’s gaze snapped away from the ground at the conviction in her voice. “Can you just wait right here? Please? There’s something that I really need to tell you, I just can’t until I’ve had another conversation first.”

Hope nodded, and then Josie’s turned and slipped inside the school.

° ° °

Josie gave herself one minute to think, to brace herself for the conversation she was about to have, and then she opened the door to Landon’s dorm room.

His back was to her until she said his name, and when he turned and saw the expression on her face, his smile fell.

She was good at hiding things from people, especially her own emotions, but she knew she couldn’t hide this.

“Merry Christmas, I guess,” he said, though he didn’t move any closer to her. The greeting somehow already felt like a goodbye.

“You know what’s weird about Christmas?” Josie asked, walking towards him. The entire room was filled with a bright red glare from the Christmas trees lights. “It’s um... the happiest and the saddest.”

“Can we start with the happy?” Landon asked, and she hated how defeated he sounded. As if he’d known this was coming.

Josie nodded, taking his hands in hers. Her voice was shaking as she said, “I want you to know... I couldn’t have asked for a better boyfriend, a better partner. I love the way you laugh, and how your face looks when you watch movies. You’re great, Landon, and this has nothing to do with you, but—“

“But you’re in love with Hope.”

And, there it was. The truth she’d been running from since she’d remembered Hope existed. Even before, really, when she hadn’t said it back that night on the phone. Somehow, hearing Landon say it cemented it in her brain, made it even more true.

She nodded, and though Landon didn’t say anything after that, as she turned towards the door he smiled at her. 

For some reason, it felt almost like he was telling her it was okay. And even if this was going to hurt... Josie knew she had made the right decision. 

° ° °

“Hey,” Josie said, sighing in relief when she found Hope standing outside where she’d left her. “You stayed.”

“I did, but if this is your way of letting me down easy—“

“I broke up with Landon.”

From Hope’s shocked expression, Josie knew she hadn’t been expecting it. “What?”

Josie stepped forward, taking Hope’s hands in hers, steadying herself. “When we were in the kitchen, do you want to know why I stopped? It’s because it wasn’t you; it wasn’t the Hope I wanted. I want the real you, and not just the good parts. The sad, the selfish, the painful, and the ugly... I want all of it.”

Hope was blinking what might be tears from her eyes, shaking her head as if she didn’t believe what Josie was saying. “Josie, I—“

“No,” Josie said, tightening her grip on Hope’s hands. “I’m sorry it took me so long to say that. I think it was why I was so awful to you, before. I knew how I felt, but I didn’t know how to handle it, so I pushed you away. That’s what I came back to say.”

“And how _do_ you feel?”

Josie didn’t know why the question took her by surprise, but it did. After all of this, was it really that easy?

 _Yes,_ she thought. _It is._

“I love you, Hope Mikaelson,” she said, moving closer to her as the words left her lips, until they were chest to chest. “I loved you when I didn’t even know it. I think I always will.”

She paused, feeling suddenly empty after the confession left her, the words she unknowingly carried inside of her for months. “This is the part where you say—“

“That love you too?” Hope said before Josie could finish, a smile spreading across her face. “Josie Saltzman, I love you. God, I loved you when I was dead.”

Josie beamed at her, her vision blurring as she felt the tears forming, and she brushed a piece of Hope’s hair behind her ear. She’d missed this, the casual touches, the steady warmth in her chest when she was with her.

_Hope Mikaelson loved her._

“Well, then,” Hope said, and that’s when Josie noticed the small, sparkly box she was holding. “I supposed this is a good time to give you your Christmas gift.”

Josie took it from her, grinning at Hope as she peeled back the wrapping paper, and Hope’s laugh was a thousand times better than the fake, obnoxious giggle she’d made in the kitchens. 

Josie opened the lid, and there, lying inside the box, was a single piece of mistletoe. 

“I think it’s obvious,” Hope said, smirking at her as she wrapped her arms around Josie’s waist and pulled her closer. “But do you want to know what I wished for?”

Josie nodded, suddenly unable to form words, not when Hope’s lips were inches away from hers, when she could feel her breath on her cheek.

“I wished to kiss you under the mistletoe.”

The words were all Josie needed.

One second, they were quiet, staring at each other, and Josie couldn’t help but drink in the sight of Hope standing in her arms, alive and okay and _here_. 

And then, she pressed her lips to Hope’s, her hands winding into the locks of her hair, and the mistletoe fell to the ground as Hope wrapped her arms around her waist.

And just like that, Josie didn’t care what she would have wished for. 

She already had everything she wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do you mind long chapters? i love them, but i’m interested to know if they annoy some people.
> 
> also clarke’s a hosie stan pass it on


	9. oh, this pull is astronomical

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, that was nice,” Hope said as she shut the door behind her, looking far too smug for Josie’s taste. 
> 
> “Don’t tease,” Josie said as she sat down on the bed, pretending to pout. 
> 
> “I can’t help it,” Hope sighed, faking annoyance as she tugged off her shoes and moved over to sit at Josie’s side. “You’re cute when you’re jealous.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i decided to do a three month time jump because it’s the only way to make the legacies timeline make sense, so it’s now mid-january.
> 
> hope y’all enjoy and thank you for all the support! comments/kudos are always appreciated :)

It was moments like these that made Josie regret sharing a room with her sister.

Hope and her were lying in bed, during one of the rare times where their schedules aligned and they had a break from class. They were still in their school uniforms, but Hope’s head was on her shoulder, and she was about to suggest they have some _fun_ while Lizzie was at spell lab, but then a gust of wind almost blew the door off of it’s hinges and her sister arrived with her arms wrapped around Sebastian’s shoulders, their lips and limbs interlocked like a pair of octopuses.

Over the course of the past three months, Lizzie’s hatred for the newest vampire on campus had evolved from a _I-want-to-murder-you-hatred_ to a _I-want-to-fuck-you-hatred._

Josie didn’t want to involve herself in _that_ mess of a situation, but their frequent hookups had interrupted her and Hope more times than she could count. And she’d had enough.

“Lizzie!” She shrieked, jumping to her feet as Hope sighed and collapsed back against the headboard. 

When her sister didn’t remove her lips from Sebastian’s neck, Josie screamed her name again, loud enough for everyone in the hallway to hear.

Lizzie jerked her head up, eyes wide, and seemed to finally realize they weren’t alone. “Sorry, Jo. You don’t mind though, right? We just—”

She stopped talking as Sebastian began to unbutton her dress, and Josie decided she’d seen more than enough.

“‘Cmon Hope,” she hissed, glaring at her sister, though Lizzie was far past noticing at that point. “Let’s leave the lovebirds to... whatever this is.”

Hope shook her head, more amused than anything, and grabbed her backpack, grimacing at the pair.

Josie opened the door for her, rolling her eyes as she caught a last glimpse of Sebastian pushing Lizzie onto the bed. She groaned, slamming the door shut behind her and shuddering at the sound of the faint moans coming from within.

“Sorry about that,” she said, shaking her head. “I should put a sock on the door or something.”

Hope chuckled, walking towards her until Josie’s back was pressed against the door. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll just have to be more... discreet.”

Josie heard the suggestion in her words, but she sighed and pulled away before Hope could tempt her further. “I’m sorry, but I can’t— I have to get the hourglass from my dad’s office while he’s still in class.”

“The hourglass?” Hope asked, tilting her head. “The one Clarke gave you?”

“Yeah, I think it’s finally time I got rid of it,” Josie explained, deciding not to mention the fact that she’d been putting this task off for far too long. 

“You want help?” 

“No, it should be easy,” she said, praying that Hope wouldn’t see through the lie. She didn’t want to worry her, not when things had been so good these past few months.

So, Josie plastered a smile on her face as Hope pressed a kiss to her cheek, the gesture so casual it hurt, and kept it there until her girlfriend had turned the corner and disappeared from sight. 

The time she’d had with Hope felt like a dream, and Josie didn’t want to wake up.

She just hoped that their problems were gone for good.

✘✘✘

Hope had known starting over wouldn’t be easy. 

When she’d decided to return to school three months ago, things had changed. It hadn’t been awful, just... different.

She’d salvaged the rest of her belongings that hadn’t burned in the fire, gone shopping for new clothes with Lizzie, relearned the locations of her classes. 

Sometimes, it felt like she’d never left. 

There was just a few problems.

One of them being Alyssa Chang.

Hope had known Alyssa since they were kids, and she did, she _tried_ to have some empathy for her. They were both orphans, both responsible for their parents deaths in a way. The only difference was that Alyssa had literally blown up her house with her entire family inside of it. 

And there was the fact that she _hated_ Hope. 

At first, she’d done her best to be nice— or at least civil. Was having to share her room Hope’s ideal scenario? No, of course not, but she had still tried to make the best of the situation. She’d followed Alyssa’s _rules_ : no eating in bed, no late night visitors, no loud music or art supplies on every surface. She’d put up with the awful, overpowering stench of her perfume, the fact that she only had a fourth of the room to herself. She ignored the snide remarks Alyssa made, how she glared at Josie whenever she saw them together. But the girl was starting to get on Hope’s last nerve.

So, as part of her plan to avoid murdering Alyssa Chang, she had taken to avoiding her as much as possible.

She’d memorized her schedule, and tried to only go back to her dorm when Alyssa was in class. Like right now, as Hope slipped from the room and scanned the hallway for any sign of her roommate. 

She sighed after realizing the coast was clear, but when she turned to head back to class, she did a double take. Because standing only a few feet away from her were the last two people Hope had expected to see today. 

“Maya? Ethan?”

They both turned, acknowledged her greeting— Maya with a smile, Ethan with a wave— but Hope still shook her head to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. She hadn’t seen the twins in months, not since she’d left Mystic Falls High, and Maya had still been avoiding her then. 

After their kiss— which Hope had purposefully _not_ mentioned to Josie.

Because she’d thought Maya and her were done, that they’d never see each other again. And maybe because she was nervous to see how her girlfriend would react to the news— even though she’d been kissing someone else for months now. This was different. Because Hope had _remembered,_ and she’d done it anyway.

Not that Josie was vindictive enough to hold it over her head, but... still.   
  
It took her a second to realize they were standing in front of her, both of them looking a little nervous, as if they knew this wasn’t technically allowed. 

“What are you two doing here?” Hope asked, the words falling out automatically, even though she knew how rude it sounded. “How did you find me?”

“Saltzman let us in,” Ethan offered as an explanation, his gaze trailing over her school uniform, the blue sweater and white tank tucked into a plaid skirt. “Looking good, Marshall.”

Hope couldn’t even begin to correct him on her last name before Maya elbowed him in the ribs.

“Ignore him,” she said, rolling her eyes, the annoyance fading from her voice when she turned back to Hope. 

“Hey,” she murmured, her soft voice so different from the Maya she remembered that it caught Hope off guard. “How are you?”

“Hi,” she answered, pausing as she took them in— Ethan in his sweats and t-shirt, Maya’s loose, unbounded curls and hastily applied concealer that did nothing to hide the dark circles under her eyes. This was weird... the only time Hope has seen Maya look like this had been after Ethan broke his arm, and she found that she didn’t like it any better the second time. “I’m good— are _you_ okay? What’s going on?” 

Maya hesitated, glanced at Ethan, who just shrugged as if to say, _this was your idea._

She sighed, and then turned back to Hope. “I know you’re a werewolf.”

Well, that was _not_ what she’d been expecting.

“Uh,” Hope stammered, struggling to find a suitable response. Usually, she would just laugh it off, but something told her this wasn’t a situation where that would work. “I don’t, I’m not—“

“Oh, relax,” Maya scoffed, shaking her head and smirking a little. “You don’t have to do that. I know. I can... sense it.”

As she said that, her eyes flashed gold, and Hope couldn’t stop herself from taking a step back.

“Wait,” she said, smiling despite herself. “You’re a wolf?”

Maya nodded, though she still looked nervous. “I triggered my curse a few months ago. Car accident. I was adopted, so I didn’t know, and Ethan’s been helping me with research and everything but... I need answers.”

“So, you came to me?” Hope asked, still trying to wrap her mind around everything. It all made so much sense now— Maya avoiding her like the plague, the lack of attempts to contact her. She hadn’t been ignoring Hope, she’d been worried about her finding out, sensing it like she had. 

And okay, her brain was about to explode, but Hope couldn’t help but feel one very distinct emotion: pride. Because somehow Maya trusted her enough to help her with this.

“I mean, of course I’ll help but... how did you know what I was?”

“I triggered my curse a few days before the decade dance,” Maya explained, and Hope tried not to read into the look on her face. “I hadn’t transitioned yet, and I was already pretty tipsy when I saw you, but... I smelled it on you, on me, the next morning and I just knew.”

Hope just smiled at her, and tried not to think about the thing Maya wasn’t saying. That she’d smelled Hope the next morning on _herself_ , because they’d been all over each other that night, even before their kiss.

Hope wanted to help Maya, she just hoped that she could get through this without Josie finding out what she’d done.

✘✘✘

Besides a brief, awkward encounter with her dad, Josie managed to remove the hourglass from his office without incident.

She was on her way back to her room to destroy it, hoping Lizzie and Sebastian had vacated the premises by now, when she ran into Landon.

Literally. She turned the corner and crashed into him, almost dropping her bag containing the hourglass. Josie caught it before it could hit the ground, though it didn’t stop her heart from racing at the near disaster. She didn’t want to know what would happen if it broke.

“Hi,” Landon said, his eyes wide, and Josie found herself smiling at the familiar awkwardness. This, at least, she knew how to navigate.

“Hey,” she said, smiling at him, hoping she didn’t look too suspicious. Landon and her had never really talked after their breakup, but she hadn’t been avoiding him out of spite. She just hadn’t wanted to flaunt her relationship with Hope in front of him.

“How’s it’s going?” He asked, glancing at the bag at her side. “What’s up?”

“The usual,” she told him, trying to sound nonchalant. “Just getting rid of magical evidence before my dad overreacts.”

Landon nodded, though he still didn’t seem entirely comfortable. “Sure. You need any help?”

“No, I’m all good,” Josie said, moving past him. “Thanks. I’ll see you later.”

Landon looked confused, but Josie had just spotted a familiar head of auburn curls around the corner, and she was eager to make her escape.

Maybe she didn’t need Landon’s help, but there was no reason why Hope couldn’t help her destroy the hourglass. She’d been nervous to involve her before, but now Josie didn’t want to do it by herself. 

When she turned into the next hallway, though, Hope wasn’t alone. 

She was standing by the door to her room, laughing with two students from Mystic Falls High.

That wasn’t the worst part, though. 

The worst part was that Jose _knew_ them.

The boy, with his all-American smile and Timberwolves shirt, was Ethan. The kid whose arm she’d broken at the game. It had been an accident, but Josie still felt horrible about it. 

And the girl... Josie knew her too. Black curls, long eyelashes, arrogant smirk. Maya. 

She should have just gone over and introduced herself, apologized for her behavior during the game, but... Hope was acting as if she knew them, laughing and talking like they were _friends_ or something. 

Hope wasn’t just nice to people for no reason, and Josie _knew_ all of her friends. Or at least she thought she did.

Josie didn’t know why she did it. Maybe it was her guilt over hurting Ethan, or not wanting to intrude. Maybe it was the way Maya was looking at Hope as Josie’s girlfriend placed a hand on her arm and laughed at something she’d said.

Josie didn’t know why she did it, but she turned and walked away before Hope could see her.

She would just have to destroy the hourglass by herself.

✘✘✘

“So,” Maya said as they walked through the woods, Ethan trailing a respectful distance behind them so that they could talk in private. “Since you’re back at school, I’m guessing things worked out with that ex-girlfriend of yours?”

Hope had never intended to tell Maya the truth about Josie forgetting her, but she had informed her on some of the non-magical details of their relationship. Now, she wondered if Maya was just making small talk, or if she was asking because she wanted to know if Hope was available.

“Josie, yeah,” she says, unable to keep the smile off of her face. “We’re good. Like _really_ good. I didn’t tell you before, for obvious reasons, but she was kind of magically spelled to forget that I ever existed? But she remembered, so...”

She trailed off at Maya’s shocked expression. “Sorry,” she said, shaking her head. “Magic, spells. It’s all still kind of new to me.”

“Is there anything you want to know?” Hope asked.

Maya shrugged, and said, “Everything, really. I knew this was a school for troubled rich kids, and Ethan and I put two and two together when we figured out you were a wolf, I guess... it’s just hard for me to wrap my head around it. How did you handle it, when you found out?”

Hope hesitated, wondering how much she should tell Maya about her past. “I never really “found out”, I guess. I’ve been around supernatural creatures since I was born. My dad... he was one of the world’s original vampires, and my mom was the alpha of the Crescent Wolf Pack, in New Orleans. I triggered my curse when I was fifteen.”

“So, you’re not just a wolf?” Maya asked, obviously confused. 

“No, I’m a... tribrid. Of three different creatures; vampire, werewolf, and witch.”

“Oh, well,” Maya said, clearly trying to make it seem like none of this phased her. “That’s cool, I guess.”

Hope laughed, but then Maya glanced at her, nervous but curious. “How did you do it? Trigger your curse?”

“It was an accident,” Hope explained, trying to ignore that mental image of the destroyed church attic. “I killed a guy. He had a daughter.”

She didn’t bother saying anything else, because those two facts were all that really mattered. She had killed someone, yes, but someone else had lost a father because of it. She thinks the second part is worse. 

“And now...” Maya frowned, and Hope hated the worried expression on her face. She didn’t like this Maya, the one who wasn’t constantly flirting and smirking at her. “You’re fine, right? You got through it?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Hope told her, her heart aching. Then, because she didn’t know what else to do, she pulled Maya into a hug and said, “You will be too.”

✘✘✘

Josie didn’t know why she was so nervous.

She’d practiced the spell a dozen times, had triple-checked the ingredients, made sure the door was locked so there would be no interruptions. 

And yet, she still wished that Hope was here with her. Or just someone, anyone, really. 

But Josie was trying to be more independent, so she hadn’t asked for help. 

Clarke may have been evil and manipulative, but he had been right about one thing. She was a powerful witch.

So, Josie closed her eyes, and began to chant. 

She waited for the spell to destroy the black magic inside the sandclock, but that wasn’t what happened.

Instead, she saw it break. 

It wasn’t reality, she realized, but a vision of the future. 

The hourglass shattering,

The school burning.

And then Josie herself, surrounded by flames with black pits for eyes. 

Josie gasped, jerking forward as she stopped chanting, the room spinning in front of her.

_What the hell had just happened?_

✘✘✘

When Lizzie found Hope, she was in the kitchen, making Maya a sandwich.

“There you are!” She said, her blonde curls bouncing as she stormed into the room. “Why aren’t you helping Josie destroy the hourglass?”

Hope frowned, setting down her knife, confused. “What are you talking about? She told me she had it handled, did something happen?”

“Not yet,” Lizzie hissed, glaring at Hope. “But I’m worried. I offered to help her, but she just brushed me off. You’re her girlfriend, shouldn’t you be supporting her or something?”

“I will, okay? Relax,” Hope said, raising her hands in surrender. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Sorry,” Lizzie sighed, shaking her head and rubbing at her temples. “This whole thing with Sebastian is messing with my head. I hate him, I do, but I’m also incredibly turned on by him, so—“

“Okay, that’s enough,” Hope said, holding up a hand. “I believe that’s what they call too much information.”

“Fine,” Lizzie sighed, turning to leave. “I have class, but you’ll talk to Josie, right?”

“I will,” Hope said, smiling at Lizzie before she left, despite the worry creeping up her spine.

She would have been happy to help Josie with the hourglass if she’d asked, but she hadn’t. In fact, she’d said _no_ when Hope had offered. 

If something was wrong, she could handle it, but she didn’t understand why Josie hadn’t come to her first.

✘✘✘

Josie was bent over a stack of books in the library, taking notes on magic nullification spells, when Dorian arrived and asked what she was doing, frowning at the hourglass.

Josie flinched, grabbing the hourglass and tucking it away in her bag. “An assignment Clarke had me working on when he was pretending to be Headmaster Vardemus,” she explained, hoping Dorian wouldn’t ask too many questions. 

“Well, Clarke’s dead, so I’m pretty sure you don’t have to turn that in,” Dorian said with a laugh.

“I was actually just working on getting rid of it,” Josie told him, forcing a smile onto her face. “Should be easy.”

“Magic nullification?” He asked, raising his eyebrows at her. “Those are advanced chain spells, you would need another witch. What kind of assignment was it?”

Crap, Dorian was getting suspicious. The last thing Josie needed was for her dad to find out about the creepy hourglass of doom. 

“I can help.”

Josie froze at the sound of Hope’s voice, turning around slowly to see her standing in the doorway of the library, smiling at them. 

“I’m sure we can handle it,” she told Dorian, a subtle dismissal that left no room for argument. “I mean it could be good practice for us.”

Josie wanted to argue, but she knew it was in her best interests to go along with whatever Hope was planning, even if it grated against her nerves. She wasn’t some damsel in distress, she didn’t need saving. Besides, last she checked, Hope had been otherwise occupied.

Still, she smiled at Dorian, pretended everything was fine. 

Dorian glanced at her, then at Hope. He was clearly still suspicious, but he seemed to decide that he didn’t want to involve himself in whatever this was. So, he just shook his head and said, “Have fun.”

Josie watched him go, slamming the book she’d been reading shut as she grabbed her bag and got to her feet. “Thank you,” she said to Hope, avoiding her gaze. “But I actually don’t need any help, so...”

“Lizzie told me about the sandclock,” Hope said, and it was clear she wasn’t buying Josie’s act. “She thought I could help. What I don’t get is why you didn’t just come to me in the first place.”

Josie sighed, biting her lip, and before she could stop herself, she said, “You seemed... busy. And I didn’t want to bother you.”

“Busy?” Hope asked, frowning at her. “What are you talking about... oh. You saw me with Maya and Ethan.”

Josie didn’t say anything, but she still wasn’t looking at Hope. She didn’t know why it bothered her so much, though she was always jealous where Hope was concerned.

“Josie, that was nothing,” Hope said, but she still sounded nervous, and Josie didn’t quite believe her. “I swear, we were just—”

“It doesn’t matter,” Josie said, trying to make it sound like it really didn’t bother her. “It’s like I said, I don’t need your help.”

“Josie, please!” Hope said as Josie moved past her, grabbing her by the arm and tugging her back towards her. “Let me help.”

Josie sighed, hesitating, though she knew Hope wasn’t going to let this go. “How?”

“My friend Vincent told me a story about Mora Miseriums that hold the effects of black magic, and how dangerous they can be if they break,” Hope explained, obviously relieved that Josie was listening to her. “You can’t nullify the black magic inside, but you can put a protective barrier around the outside.”

“And,” she finished, holding up a piece of parchment. “I know a good spell for that.”

✘✘✘

Hope and Josie we’re sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace in Josie’s bedroom, and as Hope lit the candles with a match before blowing out the flame, Josie had a strange sense of deja vu. 

It felt like forever ago when they’d done that first spell together, when Hope had asked Josie to help her track Landon and the stolen knife. The irony of that compared to their current situation didn’t escape her.

She wondered what would have happened if she’d said no, if she’d refused to help. Would she and Hope still have found each other? Or would she be alone?

Josie sprinkled herbs over the sandclock, shoving those thoughts from her mind, and she and Hope joined hands. 

Josie had siphoned from Hope a thousand times, some of them accidental when they were kissing or sparring, but the rush was always the same. The burst of energy, the thought that she could do anything with this much magic at her fingertips. She didn’t know how Hope handled it.

She closed her eyes as the warmth traveled across her skin, silently reciting the spell Hope had given her. When she opened them, a pale blue mist was wrapping itself around the sandclock.

“It’s actually kind of beautiful,” Hope said, and Josie looked at her. She was staring at the hourglass with a soft look of wonder, and in the flickering light of the fireplace that made her auburn curls even more vibrant and her blue eyes sparkle, Josie almost made a comment about how it wasn’t the only beautiful thing in the room.

But things were still weird between them, so instead she said, “I guess, if you can look past the visions of doom.”

Hope looked at her, the question clear on her face, but Josie didn’t feel like getting into it. “Thank you for doing this,” she said, unable to hold onto her anger now that Hope was here with her. She could never stay mad at her when they were in the same room; it was why she’d avoided her when she first remembered her. “I couldn’t have done this without you.”

Hope seemed almost flustered by the comment, and she smiled at Josie as she said, “You don’t have to thank me. I would help you no matter what, you know that. Besides, I missed this, us doing magic together.”

Josie didn’t say so, but she’d missed it too. 

“You should know Vincent also told me that the sandclock degrades over time,” Hope told her, and Josie couldn’t ignore the pit in her stomach when she thought about what that could mean. “At some point, it will break down from the inside no matter what we do. But this will at least give us some time to figure out how to defuse it.”

We. Us. As if it was obvious they would do this together. It was enough to make Josie feel guilty for avoiding her.

Josie nodded, trying to work up the courage to tell Hope the truth, but then she lost her nerve when she looked at her. 

“Why did Clarke choose me?” She asked instead, though she had been wondering about it for months. She and Hope had never discussed Josie and Clarke’s relationship, as if Hope knew it was a sore spot for Josie.

“You’re a trusting person,” Hope said, as if the answer was obvious. “And you’re more powerful than you know.”

“I don’t want to be either of those things,” Josie admitted, though she know it sounded weak. She didn’t care. She didn’t want to be powerful, she wanted to be in control of herself, of her emotions. “The second he had me doing black magic my head... it’s like it’s not mine anymore. I get upset more easily, I’m on edge. Jealous.”

She didn’t elaborate, but she knew Hope understood. She sighed, turning her gaze to the sandclock.

“Josie,” she began, and Josie braced herself at the apprehensive look on her face. “Look, the truth is I didn’t know Maya and Ethan were going to come here today. I hadn’t spoken to them in months, and I didn’t realize but... Maya’s a werewolf. That’s why she’s here, she needs my help.”

It should have made Josie feel better, that that was all it was, but Hope wasn’t finished. “But that’s not all of it, right?”

Hope shook her head, folding her hands in her lap to stop herself from fidgeting, and Josie didn’t think she’d ever seen her this nervous. “We... kissed. The night of the decade dance, at the mill. I had just seen you and Landon dancing, and I thought you were going to have sex with him, and I was sad and missing you, so I kissed her. But it was nothing, I swear. And I know I should have told you—”

“Hope,” Josie said, interrupting her before she could start to panic. “It’s okay.”

When she’d first heard Hope say she kissed Maya, Josie’s heart had dropped to her stomach. But as Hope started to ramble, Josie realized she had no reason to be mad. She had been making out with Landon at that exact moment, right? She couldn’t fault Hope for trying to move on when she had done the same thing.

Even if it hurt. But she didn’t think it was possible to imagine Hope kissing someone else and _not_ be jealous. 

“I understand, I do,” Josie said when she saw Hope’s face, and how confused she was by Josie’s easy acceptance. “I’m not going to say that I like the idea of it, but I don’t blame you. That would be pretty hypocritical of me, even if the magic says otherwise.”

Hope nodded, biting her lip, but Josie could tell she still wanted to say something. “It’s not just the magic,” she murmured after a moment, and then she paused, considering something. 

“When I got out of Malivore, I came here,” she said, and Josie froze, looking up at her. Hope rarely talked about what it had been like for her in Malivore, or how she’d felt after she’d escaped. Josie had asked her before, but she always changed the subject. “It was the first place I wanted to be. You guys were the first people I wanted to see.”

“I snuck onto campus,” she explained, shaking her head slightly at the memory. “You and Landon were having movie night or something at the Mill—“

“Hope,” Josie said, interrupting her before she could finish, because she suddenly knew where this story was going and she didn’t like it.

“I saw you,” she admitted, and Josie could tell that this had been weighing on her, this secret. “You both looked so _happy_. And I was so jealous. If the wrong person crossed my path in that moment, I can’t imagine the damage I would have done.” 

Josie couldn’t look at her, could barely speak past the tightness in her throat as she recalled how Landon had kissed her in that clearing. Her brain was reworking the memory to include Hope, and all Josie could imagine was her watching them through the trees, thinking Josie had moved on without her.

“How’d you move past it?” She asked after a moment, knowing that since Hope had been able to forgive her for Landon, she could never hold Maya against her.

“I tried to move on,” Hope told her, and Josie winced when she heard the pain in her voice. She didn’t want to imagine what those weeks had been like for Hope, how lonely she must have felt. “And I know I got a lot of that wrong too. Especially when it came to Landon. Obviously.”

“But,” she said, meeting Josie’s gaze and smiling at her, though she hesitated before continuing. “If you want, I would really like to try again with Maya, to do it differently. Better.”

Josie’s heart swelled at that, and she still didn’t understand how Hope always knew the right thing to say. She smiled at her, knowing there were tears in her eyes, and said, “I would like that.”

✘✘✘

When Josie found Hope and Maya, they were standing in the foyer, whispering and laughing as they waited for Ethan to pull up with the car.

After they’d done the spell, Hope had returned to the Mill to talk with Maya about her transition and give her advice, and Josie had been pleased to find she wasn’t jealous in the least. 

Now, though, she did want to meet Maya, to try and do better. Like Hope had said.

Still, she couldn’t resist wrapping an arm around Hope’s waist and tugging her closer as she introduced herself to Maya, who just smiled at their joined hands.

“Well, Hope,” she said, grinning at Josie, giving her an obvious once over. “You certainly know how to pick them. She’s hot.”

Her voice was teasing, and Josie knew she was baiting them, trying to get a rise out of Hope.

But Hope just turned her head towards Josie, and said, “Oh, I know.”

Josie fought her blush, but it was no use.

“You know, Josie, you’re literally all she talks about,” Maya said, smirking at them, clearly loving the scowl on Hope’s face and redness in Josie’s cheeks. “I’m sorry, but you two are just too cute. I’m officially jealous.”

Josie found herself smiling, and she meant it when she said, “I’m sure you have tons of girls— and guys— who are after you. We should go on a double date sometime, if you find someone you like.” 

Maya beamed at her, and even though she didn’t say it, Josie could tell she was relieved that it wasn’t awkward between them. Maya didn’t seem like the kind of girl who enjoyed bullshit and petty drama, and despite everything, Josie found that she liked her. 

A car horn blared from the driveway, and Maya rolled her eyes and screamed at Ethan to tell him she was coming. 

“Well, thanks for all your help, Hope,” Maya said, smiling at her, and then turning to Josie. “You got lucky with this one, you know?”

“Oh, I know,” Josie said, repeating Hope’s words from earlier, and this time it was her turn to blush. 

Maya smirked at them as she opened the door. “See you around, lovebirds!” She called over her shoulder, and Josie saw Hope roll her eyes in exasperation. “Let me know about that double date!”

✘✘✘

“Well, that was nice,” Hope said as she closed the door to Josie’s room behind her, looking far too smug for Josie’s taste. 

“Don’t tease,” she snapped as she sat on the bed, pretending to pout. 

“I can’t help it,” Hope sighed, faking annoyance as she tugged off her shoes and moved over to the bed. “You’re cute when you’re jealous.”

“Oh, like you’re any better,” Josie scoffed, fighting to keep the smile from her face. “Besides, apparently _I’m all you talk about_.”

“At least I never set a girl’s hair on fire,” Hope said, shrugging and ignoring Josie’s second comment.

“You literally avoided me for a month because you saw me with Landon,” Josie reminded her, rolling her eyes.

“He was your boyfriend!” Hope exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air. “You were _dating_.” 

“Didn’t mean I wasn’t still in love with you,” Josie said, and she knew she was blushing as she said it, but the look on Hope’s face was worth it.

“Have I mentioned how much _I_ love hearing you say that?” Hope asked, leaning over Josie who was now lying on the mattress, until her lips were inches away from hers.

“Once or twice,” Josie murmured, biting her lip, smirking as she looked up at Hope. “Do you want me to say it again?”

“Please,” Hope whispered, and even though there was heat behind the word, Josie didn’t hesitate when she saw the hidden desperation in her gaze.

“I love you, Hope Mikaelson,” she said, smiling at the grin that spread across Hope’s face as she leaned down to kiss her.

“I love you too,” Hope said, and the moment their lips touched, Josie wrapped her arms around Hope’s waist and tugged her down onto the bed.

She raised her hand, siphoning from Hope until the lock on the door clicked into place, and when Hope laughed as she buried her face in Josie’s neck, Josie forget why she had ever been jealous of Maya.

Hope was hers, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this ending is lowkey cheesy but it’s okay because they deserve some happiness


	10. you held my hand in the darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Sorry, Jo,” she said, though she didn’t look the least bit sorry, her eyes burning as she raised a hand and recited an incantation. “But I’m going to need to borrow that.”
> 
> Just like that, the hourglass flew from it’s place on the desk and into Alyssa’s hands. Josie tried to cast a spell in retaliation, but she hadn’t siphoned all day, and there wasn’t any magic to draw from. 
> 
> Then, Alyssa snapped her fingers, and everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> before anyone starts screaming at me, i know i’ve been gone for literally forever, and i’m so sorry for no updating this sooner, but a few months ago i was in a really bad place mentally and i needed to take a break to focus on myself and spend time with my friends and family. i also lost all my inspo for legacies/hosie but it’s back now and i’m in a much better place mentally + very ready to start writing for you guys again!!
> 
> also want to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who has supported this story and left comments/kudos/positive feedback over the past fews months. i probably would have completely given up if not for you guys, so thank you. really. 
> 
> anyway here’s the update i hope y’all enjoy!! if anyone is still reading this lmao

Ever since Malivore had stopped sending monsters to attack them, Hope had started sparring with Josie— because she needed something to hit to keep herself from, well, _murdering_ Alyssa Chang.

Who, as of last night, was having sex with Jed in Hope’s _bed_.

She’d escaped to Josie’s room for the evening, but that didn’t solve the problem. 

Hope slashed with her staff, struggling to rid the image of Alyssa’s stupid, smug expression from her mind. It clacked against Josie’s, sent her stumbling backwards. 

“Okay, _what’s_ gotten into you?”

Hope jumped, startled by the sharp edge to the question, and it was enough of a distraction that Josie managed to catch her staff with her own mid-swing. It was impressive, but not surprising— Hope had learned to never underestimate her girlfriend a long time ago. 

But Josie didn’t even mention the hit, the edges of her mouth turning down into a frown. “Are you okay? I know I told you not to go easy, but that’s the third time you’ve nearly decapitated me and we haven’t even had breakfast yet.”

“Oh crap, did I hurt you?” Hope asked, already fumbling over herself to apologize, searching Josie for any visible injuries. Holding back was basically subconscious for her at this point, but she’d been too caught up in her head to pay attention this morning. “I’m sorry—”

“Hope, it’s fine,” Josie said, her tone slipping into one of amusement. “I’m fine, I’m just worried about you. You’ve been on edge for weeks, and I’ve been trying to give you space, but I hate when you get like this. Something’s wrong— spill.”

“Nothing’s wrong.” 

Before the words had even passed her lips, Hope knew Josie wasn’t buying it by the look on her face.

“Hope—”

“Fine, you’re right, okay?” She snapped, forcing herself to lessen the bite in her voice as she ran a hand through her hair, messing up the ponytail she’d pulled it into this morning. “It’s just... Alyssa has me all worked up. That girl has no _boundaries_ , Jo. She takes all of my stuff and every day she has a new scented candle— one of which smelled like _bacon_. I think she’s trying to gaslight me.”

“You just have to ignore her,” Josie said, clearly trying not to sound exasperated, even though they’d been having this same conversation for _months_ now. “Don’t let her get to you— she’s only doing all of this to get under your skin.”

“She makes me long for the days where I could toss a monster into the Malivore pit,” Hope sighed, shaking her head in annoyance. 

After they’d killed the Krampus, the monster attacks had stopped entirely, and Hope didn’t know what to make of it. It was putting her on edge: all this not knowing, the threat of another creature appearing hanging over her head. Maybe that was why Alyssa was grating against her nerves more than usual. 

“Maybe just try talking to her?” Josie suggested, interrupting her train of thought as she slid the staff from Hope’s hands and offered her a water bottle. “We’ve known each other since we were kids— maybe she just needs to be reminded of that.”

Hope doubted that would work, especially since Alyssa Chang had hated her and the twins for as long as she could remember, but she decided to humor Josie. 

It wasn’t like things could get any worse.

✘✘✘

After her sparring session with Hope, Josie showered, changed, and grabbed a quick breakfast in the mess hall before meeting Lizzie and her dad in his office to discuss their plan for destroying the hourglass. 

Following her initial failure, they’d tried dozen of spells, but none of them worked. Even Hope hadn’t been able to figure it out, and Josie’s dad had come to the conclusion that it may take something other than magic to destroy it. 

And Josie had been willing to go along with that theory at first, but it was when Alaric suggested covering the sandclock in cement and leaving it at the bottom of the ocean that she decided enough was enough.

Their constant attempts to destroy the hourglass had become exhausting, and frankly, she was sick of it. She was _tired_ of this, of everyone trying so hard to help her. It was her own fault she was in this mess to begin with— she should be able to get herself out of it. 

“Maybe I deserve the black magic to just boomerang back on me,” she murmured, avoiding the glare she knew Lizzie was sending her way. 

“Cut yourself some slack, okay? You made a mistake,” Alaric said, his tone far kinder than when she’d _first_ told him about the hourglass. It hadn’t been pretty— Hope had interfered before either of them could start shouting, but it hadn’t done anything to lessen the guilt she was already struggling to deal with. 

Before Josie could response, Lizzie said, “Wait, what if we tried Dad’s idea, but better? Instead of dropping the discount lava lamp in the ocean, we drop it in a place where magic can’t escape— the prison world.”

“Absolutely not.”

Alaric’s tone was firm, unyielding, but Lizzie wasn’t taking no for an answer. “No, this is perfect! There’s a celestial event tonight: a meteor shower. And that is what we need to make the Ascendant work, right?”

“Yeah, that and Bennett blood,” Josie added, the plan started to take root in her mind, despite the little voice that said it was a bad idea. 

“No, I said no!” Alaric snapped, loud enough to silence the both of them, his tone edging towards panic. “I will figure this out, okay? Don’t do anything while I’m gone.”

Just like that, he left, storming from the office and slamming the door behind him. 

_Well, that had gone as well as expected._

Josie sighed, leaning back against the table she was sitting on. She wanted to trust her dad, she _did_ , but she couldn’t help but think that this was a little above his pay grade. 

“It’s bad enough that Sebastian ghosted me,” Lizzie groaned, glaring at the door their dad had slammed shut. “But now Dad’s acting like an annoying control freak.”

“He’s not going to let us anywhere near that prison world with our psychotic Uncle Kai,” Josie agreed, though she knew she didn’t need to say it. 

Lizzie’s eyes narrowed at that, like they always did before she got an idea. “Then what if we sent it to a _different_ one? Make a new Ascendant and a new prison world with no homocidal uncles.” 

“It’s gonna take a lot of magic,” Josie countered, trying not to sound too apprehensive about the idea. The spell she’d done with Hope had been fine, but she couldn’t stop thinking about the visions she’d had the last time she tried destroying the hourglass. Doing any magic, even the small stuff, felt dangerous these days— like she was one spell away from losing herself entirely. 

“We did it when we were five,” Lizzie argued, thankfully missing the fact that Josie’s hands had started to shake. 

“With Aunt Bonnie,” Josie reminded her. “I mean, we can’t do this alone.”

“Why don’t you ask Hope?” 

It was a fine suggestion, a normal one, but Josie’s stomach turned at the thought. She didn’t want Hope involved in this, didn’t need her jumping in to save her once again. 

“No,” she said, not meeting Lizzie’s gaze. “Hope stays out of this, okay?”

“Josie—”

“No, Lizzie, I mean it,” Josie hissed, ignoring her sister’s hard stare, the concern in her eyes. This wasn’t a thing, and she wasn’t going to let her make it into one. “She’s been so on edge lately, I don’t want to worry her anymore than I have to, okay? Please just drop it.”

“Fine, then I’ll find someone else,” Lizzie sighed, turning towards the door. “How hard can it be?”

✘✘✘

As Hope stood in the hallway, waiting for Alyssa to leave class so she could try and talk to her, she realized that she really was embarrassingly whipped when it came to Josie Saltzman.

I mean, she’d known that already, but this whole situation just proved it. The last thing she wanted to do was make nice with her roommate, but Josie had suggested it, so here she was. 

So, when Alyssa appeared, Hope called her name and forced herself to remain calm— even as the girl turned and leveled her with a look that screamed nothing but complete and utter disdain. 

“Can we talk?” 

She forced the words out between clenched teeth, coated them in that sickly sweet voice Rebekah had taught her to use when talking to people she despised but needed to act polite around. 

Alyssa just raised an eyebrow and gestured for Hope to proceed, as if she was wasting her time. 

_Oh, Josie so owed her for this. Big time._

“Listen, I know we don’t see eye to eye on most things, and I’m sure you probably weren’t super excited about having a roommate, but—”

“Oh, I don’t mind having a roommate.”

When Alyssa said that, there was a moment where Hope genuinely thought she’d misheard her, because it went against literally everything the girl had said and done since she‘d moved in, but then— 

“I just don’t like _you_.”

_And, there it was. Honestly, why was Hope even surprised?_

But Josie had asked her to be the bigger person, so she would be. Seriously— _whipped_ , as she’d said before. 

“Maybe we could talk about boundaries,” Hope suggested, biting her tongue before she could say anything else she might regret. “Start over.”

“You’re right,” Alyssa answered, smirking at her. “We should start over: back to when I had the room to myself.”

With that, she turned and waltzed away, and Hope couldn’t contain her growl as she watched Alyssa’s perfectly-pressed curls and bright-white blazer fade into the crowd.

She could sense the anger rising in her chest, the months of holding back the urge to rip out Alyssa’s throat having taken their toll on her usually impeccable self-control. 

All it took was a wave of her hand, and then Alyssa was on the ground, her books scattered across the floor. People screamed, then went quiet when they saw Hope standing at the end of the hall, glaring daggers through her roommate’s skull. 

Alyssa whipped her head around, her eyes burning with a combination of rage and embarrassment, but Hope just smirked at her, tossed her hair over a shoulder and gave her a bratty wave in return. 

She was tired of playing nice— Josie might live in a different world, where kindness was always met with kindness, and while Hope loved her for it, this was reality. 

And if Alyssa wanted a fight, that was what she was going to get. 

✘✘✘

By the time Josie was done with her classes, which had already been cut in half due to Coven Day, she was exhausted. 

Between stressing over Hope’s spat with Alyssa, her coursework, and wracking her brain to try and figure out a way to destroy the dark object that was apparently linked to her soul, all she wanted to do was lie down and take a nice, long nap. 

Of course, that plan ended when she opened the door to her room and saw Alyssa Chang standing inside.

Josie frowned, scanning the room for any sign of Hope, but she was nowhere to be seen. Not that she’d expected her to be here— even if her and Alyssa had made peace, she doubted they’d be the kind of friends who _hung out._

And that was fine— honestly, she didn’t care if they got along or not, she just wanted Hope to be less stressed out. 

”Alyssa?” She asked, trying her best not to sound too caught off guard. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh there you are!” Alyssa said, turning to Josie with a smile on her face, brushing the surface of the dresser with a perfectly-manicured hand, as if clearing it of invisible dust. “Actually, I was just wondering if you had any pointers on how to deal with Hope? I know we’re not exactly the best of friends, but I would like for us to at least _try_ and be civil, I guess. And you’re her girlfriend, so...”

“Oh, really?” Josie asked, her brain struggling to comprehend the idea of Alyssa _wanting_ to mend things with Hope. “I would love to help! She talked to you about starting over, then?”

“Yeah, something like that. Your influence, I’m sure,”Alyssa said, and Josie couldn’t help but notice that her smile looked a little too tight to be normal. Almost like she was plotting something...

_No, that’s ridiculous, Josie. God, you really are spending too much time with Hope._

“Well, if you got her to talk to you, that’s a start,” she reasoned, remembering the months it had taken to even get to this point. Honestly, this was the exact news she’d needed to hear today— she adored Hope, but having to listen to her constant complaints about Alyssa had grown tiresome. “Maybe just try and be more considerate? Not having sex on her bed might be a good start.”

Alyssa’s laugh was definitely forced, but Josie didn’t have the headspace to analyze it, and the other witch was already moving towards the door. “Thanks, I’ll try that. See you later, Josie!”

 _God, now she_ really _needed a nap._

Still, as Josie slipped beneath the covers of her bed, there was a little voice in the back of her mind that said she shouldn’t trust Alyssa.

It was probably right, but she didn’t have the energy to evaluate _that_ whole situation right now. Hope would just have to handle her roommate problems by herself for now— Josie had bigger issues to solve. 

✘✘✘

Perhaps it was because of her spat with Alyssa, but ever since lunch, Hope had been feeling more irritable than usual.

Normally, using her magic calmed her down, took some of the pressure off, but not this time. It felt like her temper was spiking, winding itself higher and tighter with every minor inconvenience. She’d snapped at a teacher when they’d questioned why she was late to class, almost screamed at a kid who’d brushed against her in the hallway.

Maybe she just needed a break— from Alyssa, from everybody. Hope wanted nothing more than to lure Josie away to some dark corner of the school where they wouldn’t be interrupted and she could get her frustrations out, but she also didn’t want to interrupt her merge research with Lizzie. She would have just joined them, but Josie seemed determined to figure this out by herself, and Hope was trying not to push. 

The problem was she didn’t know where else _to_ go— her room was out of the question, and she didn’t want to risk running into Alyssa anywhere else. It was times like these where Hope realized that she should at least try to make friends with more people, but honestly, when she was around Josie everyone else seemed unnecessary. 

Then, as if the thought had conjured her out of thin air, Josie appeared at the end of the hall, heading in the direction of her dorm room. 

“Hey,” she said, smiling when she spotted Hope. “How’d it go with Alyssa? She came by my room acting like you two were BFF’s or something. Kinda weird, if I’m being honest.”

_What? That made no sense, especially since Hope had knocked her on her ass earlier._

Hope opened her mouth to explain, but before she could she felt an unexplainable flicker of annoyance at the sight of Josie standing in front of her.

 _You can’t trust her,_ whispered a voice that sounded suspiciously like her own. _She’s trying to make you seem weak._

And it didn’t make any sense, but Hope’s next words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. 

“Your advice was useless,” she snapped, even though a part of her was saying that this wasn’t right, that she shouldn’t speak to Josie like that. “I don’t need your help, and I didn’t ask for it. So, do me a favor, and leave me _alone_.”

Josie blinked, her mouth falling open and her eyes filled with a mixture of confusion and hurt, but Hope was already walking away. 

She didn’t know how, but somehow she knew that she didn’t need Josie— that she couldn’t rely on her. It felt strange, but it was the truth, and she had to accept that. 

And even though a part of her knew it was wrong, she couldn’t bring herself to question it. 

✘✘✘

If Hope had to listen to Emma telling her to _breathe_ one more time, she was going to lose it. 

She didn’t want to be here, but the school counselor had cornered her in the hallway, and one thing had led to another. It was some group bonding exercise for coven day, also known as a complete waste of her time. 

_They are so soft,_ whispered that voice in her head, the one that sounded like her but wasn’t. So weak. And you know why? Because you’re always there to protect them. _They would be dead without you._

“Really?” She asked, interrupting Emma as she began to give them instructions. “Some hurt feelings and _this_ is what we’re doing? It’s no wonder I have to do _everything_ myself.” 

Emma placed a hand on her shoulder, and Hope had to actually resist the urge to snarl at her as she said, “Sounds like this will be _especially_ helpful for some of us.”

Honestly, Hope wanted to laugh. When was the last time the coven’s of New Orleans sat down and talked about their _feelings_? 

Across the circle, Alyssa was smirking at her, as if she knew exactly what Hope was thinking.

“Now,” Emma said, walking around the circle of chairs. “Close your eyes, focus on your breathing, and embrace the silence.”

Right on cue, the gymnasium door blew open, and Lizzie’s voice exploded into the room. “Emma, can I borrow you for a sec?”

“We’re in the middle of something,” Emma told her, gesturing towards the circle.

“So am I,” Lizzie said, rolling her eyes. “And my thing doesn’t include kumbaya circle time.”

“ _Sit_ ,” Emma ordered, and Lizzie sighed, dragging her chair across the floor semi-obnoxiously. “You and your sister should have been here from the start. Again, eyes closed.”

Reluctantly, Hope obeyed, closing her eyes as Emma murmured an incantation and explained she’d summoned a magical sphere that represented their thoughts and emotions. 

_This is ridiculous,_ whispered that voice in her head. _They’re trying to dampen your power, to make you just as weak as they are. And you allow it._

The color of the sphere shifted from green to yellow as the witches started bickering, and then Hope heard Alyssa’s voice. 

“I don’t know what’s worse— Josie cheating on Hope with Landon, or Lizzie getting dumped by Sebastian when she’s the only girl he’s met since 1509.”

Hope’s eyes snapped open, and her and Lizzie both sprang to their feet. It didn’t matter that Alyssa was trying to rile them up on purpose, Hope was just so _done_ with her. She’d put up with her bullshit for months, and for what? Because she hadn’t wanted to cause a problem? Because _Josie_ had told her to try and make peace?

 _Alyssa_ was the problem, and Hope knew just how to take care of her.

“At least I still have a family,” she snarled, unable to keep her anger in check, and she knew her eyes would be glowing gold. “Unlike you, _orphan_.”

In the back of her mind, there was a part of her that cringed at the words. It was an insult people had used on her before, and she knew exactly how much it hurt. But that was the point: she wanted to hurt Alyssa, _needed_ to.   
  
“Incendia!”Alyssa shrieked, her own eyes sparking in the now red glow of the circle. 

Lizzie grabbed Hope’s shoulder, the familiar heat from her siphoning sure to follow, but Hope blocked the flames with a single hand.

“You bitch,” Alyssa snarled, curling her hands into fists, though Hope noticed she didn’t try to attack her again. “I’ll _end_ you. “

“You can try,” Hope told her, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she turned to leave. “I’d love to knock you on your ass again.”

Alyssa literally _hissed_ at that, and Lizzie’s mouth opened in warning as she started to cast another spell, but Emma screamed at them to stop.

“That’s enough,” she said, the glowing orb disappearing into thin air. “Everyone go to your rooms and cool off!”

Alyssa shoved Hope on her way out, and she growled, the urge to rip her heart out increasing by the second, but Lizzie grabbed her arm and tugged her back.

“Hope! _Hope_ ,” she hissed, her nails digging into the skin of her arm, hard enough to break the daze clouding Hope’s mind. “What the hell has gotten into you? Not that I mind you showing up Alyssa, but you look like you’re about to tear her throat out!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hope said, fighting to keep her voice even. “I’m _fine_.”

“No, you’re not,” Lizzie scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Hope, something’s wrong.”

“You know what’s _wrong_?” Hope hissed, the annoyance she’d felt earlier making a reappearance. “You and everyone else trying to order me around. It’s like I told Josie, just leave me _alone_ —”

Hope froze, her mouth snapping shut at the look on Lizzie’s face. It was like she could suddenly hear the words she was saying for the first time all day— Lizzie had done nothing wrong, so why did she have the urge to rip her head off?

She was right. Something was _definitely_ wrong. 

✘✘✘

“This isn’t going to work, Lizzie,” Josie said as the door to her dad’s office creaked open. “After what happened with Clarke, I’m nervous to do even the smallest spells... worried that the magic’s gonna backfire.”

That worry had been sitting in her mind all day— for months, actually. She’d been fine with Hope, doing magic with her had always been easy, but without her... Josie hated feeling codependent, but sometimes she just couldn’t help it. 

She opened her mouth to explain that, to tell Lizzie she couldn’t do this, but then she glimpsed the reflection of the person standing behind her in the hourglass, and it wasn’t her sister. 

It was Alyssa Chang.

“Sorry, Jo,” she said, though she didn’t look the least bit sorry, her eyes burning as she raised a hand and recited an incantation. “But I’m going to need to borrow that.”

Just like that, the hourglass flew from it’s place on the desk and into Alyssa’s hands. Josie tried to cast a spell in retaliation, but she hadn’t siphoned all day, and there wasn’t any magic to draw from. 

Then, Alyssa snapped her fingers, and everything went black.

✘✘✘

When Josie opened her eyes, the world around her was burning.

The sky was dark above her, and she was standing in the middle of the woods, the broken gates of the Salvatore School illuminated by the sea of flames surrounding her. 

She jerked upright, slowly rising to her feet, and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise— as if someone was watching her.

But when she turned around, she came face to face with... herself.

Except it wasn’t quite _her_ , at least not entirely. It was her face, her body, but this Josie had long, wavy dark hair and black veins that crept over her skin. 

She felt a sudden sense of dread, every one of her instincts screaming at her to run, but it was like her feet were frozen to the forest floor.

Her mirror image’s eyes went dark, a faint smirk still on her lips, and then she opened her mouth and said, “Don’t let it break. You have to stop it.”

_The hourglass— that’s what she was talking about._

Josie started to ask how the hell she was supposed to do that, but before she could say anything she felt someone’s hands on her shoulders, heard a voice screaming at her to _wake up._

She opened her eyes, blinking against the shock of the bright light streaming through the office windows compared to the darkness and flames surrounding her a moment before, and saw Lizzie leaning over her, asking if she was okay.

Josie nodded, let her sister help her into a sitting position, even though she still felt shaky and slightly out of it, the after effects of her vision lingering.

_What the hell just happened?_

Had it just been a side effect of whatever spell Alyssa had used to knock her out? Or something more— like the vision she’d had the last time she’d tried to destroy the hourglass by herself.

She didn’t have any more time to think about it before Hope burst into the room, her eyes immediately going to where Josie was still lying on the floor.

“What happened?” She demanded, her eyes flashing gold as her protective instincts kicked in. 

Josie automatically relaxed at the sound of Hope’s voice, the desire to tell her everything so strong that it took a moment to remember their earlier conversation. 

When Hope had said that she didn’t need Josie’s help, didn’t _want_ it, and that her ideas were basically useless. 

She wasn’t quite sure what had gotten into her girlfriend, but Josie was currently having the worst bad day in a long series of bad days, and she didn’t feel like having to figure it out. 

“Alyssa happened,” she all but snapped, wincing as she got to her feet, Lizzie still hovering over her as if she expected Josie to faint again. “She knocked me out with some kind of spell, and then—”

She glanced at the empty spot on the desk where the hourglass had been as she said it, saw the recognition flare in Hope’s eyes.

“The hourglass,” she finished for Josie, her expression grim. “She took it, didn’t she?”

“Of course she did,” Josie answered, shaking her head. God, why had she ever encouraged Hope to make peace with Alyssa in the first place? She’d had it out for Lizzie and her for years, so this was really no surprise. 

“Why, though?” Hope asked, her gaze flicking from Lizzie to Josie and back again. “What could she possible need it for?”

“I have no idea,” Josie confessed— she didn’t even want to imagine all the things Alyssa could do with a dark object that was technically linked to her soul. “And I _really_ don’t want to find out.”

“We have to get it back,” Hope said, and although it was the exact thing Josie had been thinking, she felt a strange flicker of irritation at the comment. “ _Now_.” 

“Well, that’s obvious,” she said, some part of her recoiling at the tone of her voice, even though her sudden desire to one-up Hope was stronger. “Got any more observations you’d like to share?” 

Hope froze, her eyebrows practically disappearing into her hair as she cocked her head to one side. “Well, I wasn’t the one who lost the mystical artifact of certain doom, was I?”

“Hope, c’mon, that’s not fair—”

Despite Lizzie’s words, Josie couldn’t hide her flinch, the insult stinging enough that she didn’t have the chance to recognize that this wasn’t typical Hope behavior at all. 

“I’m sorry, I was busy being magically-whammied by a vengeful witch,” she snapped, unable to keep the anger suddenly coursing through her at bay. “And last I checked, you were the one who antagonized Alyssa in the first place, so—”

Hope opened her mouth, no doubt ready to voice her own retort, but Lizzie interrupted before she could.

“Cool it, you two,” she hissed, glancing from Hope to Josie as if they’d both grown a second head. “Tossing around blame isn’t going to help, all that matters is that we get it back. _Now_.” 

“How?” Josie asked, frowning at Lizzie, her irritation fading for a moment. 

“I don’t know,” her sister said, waving a hand in the air. “But it’s three badass witches against one— how hard can it be?”

“If the sandclock gets damaged, something really bad is going to happen,” Josie told them, shuddering faintly at the memory of her dream.

“ _Now_ who’s stating the obvious?” Hope muttered, rolling her eyes.

“Excuse me?” Josie demanded, taking a step towards Hope, every bone in her body screaming with indignation. “You know, if you’re going to be like this, you might as well just leave. Lizzie and I can deal with Alyssa ourselves.”

“Because that worked out so well the first time?” Hope quipped in return, shooting a pointed look at the spot on the floor where Josie had been lying earlier. “I don’t understand why you’re being so damn stubborn about this!”

 _There she goes again,_ whispered a voice in the back of Josie’s mind. _She doesn’t trust you— she thinks you’re weak. And she’s not wrong, is she?_

“I wouldn’t expect _you_ to understand,” Josie snapped, forcing herself not to shout. It was true— how the hell would Hope know what it felt like to be helpless, to feel as if your own magic was turning against you? 

This time, it was Hope’s turn to flinch. “I’m just trying to help—”

“Well, I don’t need your help, Hope,” Josie hissed, fighting to keep her voice even. “If I did, I would have asked for it!”

“You definitely needed my help last night—”

Josie scoffed, her cheeks going red at the innuendo. Lizzie made a sound of disgust.

“Did you give Maya the same kind of _help_?” Josie asked in return, the bitter words fueled by her own embarrassment and shame. She couldn’t let Hope think she was weak, that she was just going to roll over at the first sign of conflict. 

“Okay, you two, that’s enough—”

Lizzie’s protests fell on deaf ears. Hope balked at Josie’s question, her eyes glowing gold as she recoiled. “That’s ridiculous. Besides, it’s not like you weren’t _helping_ Landon for months. I mean, honestly, talk about hypocrisy—”

“ _Enough!_ ”

Lizzie’s voice was loud enough to halt the response Josie had been forming in her mind, and she whirled around to face her sister. Hope, too, seemed to have been stunned into momentary silence. 

“I don’t know what the _hell_ has gotten into the two of you today, but I’ve had it,” Lizzie said, shaking her head, her gaze flicking between the two of them like they were some complicated algebra equation. “This isn’t normal, you _never_ fight. Not like this, anyway. Something’s wrong.”

There was a beat of silence, and Josie opened her mouth to disagree, to say that if her girlfriend wasn’t being so damn stubborn they wouldn’t be having this discussion, but before she could Hope swore, and then she actually _growled_. 

“What is it?” Lizzie asked, her attention immediately going to Hope, who had closed her eyes and pressed a hand to her forehead, muttering under her breath. “What’s wrong?”

“Of course,” Hope said, the irritation still present in her voice but no longer directed at Josie. “Of course, I’m so _stupid_.” 

“Hope?” Josie asked, her anger momentarily forgotten. “What’s going on?”

“Give me your hand,” Hope said instead of answering her, and the command in her tone had Josie obeying instantly, though she still didn’t understand what was going on. 

“Hope, what are you doing?”

Hope sighed in response to Lizzie’s question, glanced upwards as she slid her hand into Josie’s own. “I think we’ve been hexed— Josie and I. That’s why we’ve been at each other’s throats all day. And I don’t think any of us have to guess who’s responsible.”

“Alyssa,” Josie hissed under her breath, squeezing Hope’s hand once in acknowledgement, her anger fading now that she understood it’s source. “It all makes sense now. She was in our room earlier, talking about how she wanted to make amends. I thought it was strange at the time, but she must have been gathering ingredients for a spell.”

Hope nodded, tugged on Josie’s hand a little harder in approval. “She would have needed something that belonged to each of us— a piece of hair, any object that held some kind of value. Good news is, I think it’s just a simple aggression hex, so it should be easy to break.”

Before Josie could ask how, Hope muttered an incantation, their joined hands glowing for a moment, and just like that, the angry haze clouding her mind vanished.

Josie hadn’t even noticed it was there until it was gone, and she could tell Hope felt it too, her girlfriend’s eyes widening as she slipped her hand from hers.

And once the anger had faded, it was instantly replaced by guilt. 

“Hope, I’m so—”

“You lovebirds can kiss and makeup later,” Lizzie scoffed, interrupting Josie’s apology. From the look on Hope’s face, she’d likely been about to do the exact same thing. “Right now, we have a witch to catch.”

✘✘✘

Luckily, thanks to Hope, finding Alyssa was relatively easy. 

She wasn’t exactly hiding. No, she was still in her dorm, sprawled across the bed— _Hope’s_ bed— smirking like she’d just won the lottery when the three of them burst through the door.

“Where is it, Alyssa?” Josie asked, before the other witch could get a word in. She wasn’t in the mood for games.

Alyssa frowned, shook her head slightly— as if she didn’t understand. “Where’s what?”

Hope growled, the sound slicing through the air and making the hair on the back of Josie’s neck rise. Clearly, she wasn’t willing to deal with Alyssa’s attitude either. 

“You know _what_ , you dumb cow,” Lizzie hissed, crossing her arms and sending a death glare Alyssa’s way. “Hand it over. Now.” 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Hope snarled again, taking a step forward, as if she was inclined to start forcibly drawing the information out of Alyssa, but Josie stopped her with a hand.

“Alyssa,” Josie said, working to keep her voice level and her magic contained, though she wanted nothing more than to slam the witch into a wall. “I’m going to make this simple. I don’t know what game you’re playing with us, but it ends now. Give me the hourglass, or I’ll let Hope tear you limb from limb. It’s that easy.”

Alyssa paused, tilting her head to the side, as if she was sizing Josie up. Either she was a good actress, or she didn’t believe Josie had meant what she’d said, because there was no fear in her eyes. “How’s the head, Jo?”

This time, it took Lizzie forcibly holding Hope back to stop her from wringing Alyssa’s neck.

“I swear to god, you _bitch—”_

“Okay, alright,” Alyssa said, raising her hands in surrender, her voice far too light for Josie’s liking. “There’s no need to get testy— you win.”

And just like that, Alyssa waved her hand, and the hourglass appeared in her lap. 

Josie surged forward without thinking, and Alyssa got to her feet, holding the hourglass in her arms. But just as she went to take it from her, Alyssa’s hands opened up, and it fell towards the ground.

Josie screamed, ducked down to catch it, but before she could the hourglass froze in midair and then flew over her shoulder— directly into Hope’s arms.

Josie breathed a sigh of relief, the tension falling from her shoulders, and she didn’t even care that Alyssa had tried to trick her, that she’d almost succeeded. As long as the hourglass was safe, it didn’t matter. 

Hope, however, seemed to think differently. Once it was clear her plan to destroy the hourglass had failed, Alyssa scoffed and rolled her eyes, then mumbled something under breath before shoving past Josie and heading towards the door. 

Hope pressed the hourglass into Josie’s arms, barely spared her a glance before she turned to follow Alyssa out. Lizzie placed a hand on her arm, but it wasn’t until Josie moved in front of her, interlocking their fingers and forcing her to meet her gaze that Hope stopped moving. 

“Hope, it’s okay,” she said, gesturing towards the hourglass. “We got what we came for, just let her go.”

“That was too easy,” Hope insisted, her gaze shifting from yellow to blue far too quickly for Josie’s liking. “Do you really think Alyssa’s just going to leave us alone? She tried to kill you Jo, she _hexed_ us—”

“She didn’t try to _kill me,”_ Josie argued, sighing when she saw the incredulous look on Hope’s face. “Okay, fine, you’re right. Just... leave it for today, okay? Besides, I think I have an idea on how to destroy this thing, and I could really use your help.”

It was that, more than anything, that finally seemed to reach Hope, and Josie took a step back when she saw the gold fade from her eyes. 

“Okay, Jo,” she said with a sigh and a fond shake of her head. “You win. What do you have in mind?”

✘✘✘

It was simple, really. Josie wasn’t sure why she hadn’t thought of it before, but maybe it was because she’d been so determined to do everything by herself that she’d forgotten what she always tried to tell Hope— asking others for help wasn’t a bad thing, and it didn’t make you weak. It made you strong.

In some ways, she had Alyssa to thank for the idea. She’d hexed Hope and her because she’d wanted to drive them apart, because she knew they were stronger together. 

The realization couldn’t come any sooner— this afternoon, after they’d reclaimed the hourglass from Alyssa, it had fractured again. They needed to do something soon, before it was beyond repair.

Josie didn’t want to think about what that would mean for her. 

So, with Hope and Lizzie’s help, she’d convinced the other witches to help them with the spell. Hope had offered to do it herself, insisting they would have enough magic if Josie siphoned from her, but her confidence in her own abilities still wasn’t strong enough. Besides, Josie liked the idea of asking the other witches for help— as Emma said, it seemed like the perfect ending to Coven Day. 

The spell itself should be easy enough to complete. Once she and Lizzie had prepared the pieces of the Ascendant, they would use the combined power of the other witches to transport it and the hourglass to a new prison world— one without any homicidal uncles. 

And then, they would hopefully be able to put this entire mess behind them.

Of course, one thing Josie hadn’t counted on was for Alyssa Chang to make an appearance. 

“Hey, Josie,” she said, a hesitant smile on her face as she approached the clearing. “I wanted to apologize for earlier. I just... I got carried away, and I hope you can forgive me. And I was wondering... if I could help you with the spell as a way to make amends? If you’ll have me, that is.”

Josie hesitated, then glanced at Lizzie, who was glaring at Alyssa but not saying anything. She could tell what her sister was thinking: Alyssa might be a grade-A _bitch_ , but they could use all the help they could get. 

There was, however, one problem.

“Absolutely not,” Hope snapped when Josie glanced her way and she saw the expression on her face. “She tried to _destroy_ the hourglass just a few hours ago. What makes you think we can trust her?”

“You don’t have to trust me,” Alyssa said, cutting in before Josie could even try and convince Hope. “I just want to help— that’s all.”

Josie could tell Hope was far from happy about it, but she thankfully managed to bite her tongue as Alyssa joined the circle— on the opposite side from her girlfriend, thank god.

It wasn’t the ideal situation, but Josie wasn’t the kind of person to hold a grudge. She knew it was just the way she’d been brought up, but Hope did enough of that for the both of them, and if Alyssa wanted to lend them some of her magic, why should Josie object? Honestly, rejecting her help might do more harm than good if this really was her way of trying to apologize. 

Once Alyssa was standing in the circle, Josie turned to Lizzie, the guilt flooding back in full force. No matter how many witches they had on their side, there was still a chance that this could go horribly wrong. And since their magic was linked... 

“I’m sorry for dragging us into this,” she murmured, pushing the thought of what it would mean for Lizzie, for _her_ , if this didn’t work aside.

“I’m sorry I didn’t know you needed help,” Lizzie said, her smile soft as she took Josie’s hand. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Josie whispered, returning Lizzie’s smile as they joined the other witches in the circle.

She moved to stand next to Hope, her hand finding hers on instinct. Josie wasn’t sure if her girlfriend could tell how nervous she was, but she must have sensed some of her hesitation, because she squeezed Josie’s hand and offered her a bracing smile.

“It’s going to be fine,” she murmured, leaning in so her lips brushed the curve of Josie’s ear. “Just pretend it’s you and me.”

Josie nodded, focused on the sound of Hope’s voice and allowed it to soothe some of the tension in her chest. It worked, and she squeezed her girlfriend’s hand in thanks.

They still had things to talk about when this was all over, things Alyssa’s hex had brought to light, but Josie knew they were going to be okay. Hope and her had been through far too much together to allow the actions of some petty witch to break them.

And with that knowledge in mind, Josie closed her eyes and focused on the magic coursing through her blood, the familiar heat of her siphoning and the rush of Hope’s magic in her veins.

Emma was talking, giving the witches instructions, but Josie let her voice fade into the background. Why had she ever been afraid of this? Magic was her birthright, it was what she was good at, and she shouldn’t have let her fear of some inevitable darkness taking her over control her like she had. 

Josie felt the magic of the other witches in the circle travel through her as they channeled each other, and when she opened her eyes, the pieces of the Ascendant were floating in the air, slowly coming together.

It fell to the ground, and Josie turned to her sister, forcing herself not to celebrate just yet. “One spell down.”

“One to go,” Lizzie said with a nod, following Josie into the center of the circle.

Alyssa moved forward, picking up the Ascendant and offering it to them, an apologetic smile on her face. Josie could practically feel Hope bristling at the action, but she forced herself to smile back as she took it from her. 

Alyssa drifted back into the circle, and Josie drew the vial of Bennett blood from her pocket and poured a drop of it onto the Ascendant. They’d called Aunt Bonnie before the ritual so she could tell them how to do the spell. She’d seemed hesitant at first, but once their dad had assured her the Ascendant would transport the hourglass to a brand new prison world, she’d agreed.

Once the blood had been added to the Ascendant, Josie took a deep breath and joined hands with Lizzie over the hourglass, and then she and the other witches began to chant. 

It took a moment, but then there was a flash of light, and when Josie opened her eyes, the hourglass was gone.

“We did it,” she said, the words more to convince herself than anything else as she met Lizzie’s gaze and smiled. “It’s gone.”

Her sister pulled her into her arms, and Josie breathed a sigh of relief as she buried her head in her shoulder. 

_It had worked— it had really, really worked._  
  
Josie barely had time to whisper a _thank you_ in Lizzie’s ear before she felt a hand on her arm, and then Hope was pulling her from her sister’s embrace and into a quick, searing kiss.

The public display of affection was something she might have shied away from once, but her body was still humming from the magic she’d siphoned, the feeling of Hope’s arms around her waist and her lips against her creating an entirely different kind of warmth in her chest, and Josie didn’t hesitate before she pulled her girlfriend closer and pressed another kiss to her lips.

Lizzie groaned, made some comment about being surrounded by lovesick lunatics, but the effort was half-hearted at best, and Josie knew she didn’t really mean it. 

And then, just because she could, Josie pulled Lizzie into their embrace, laughing at the disgruntled whine Hope let slip when their lips disconnected. 

Ironically, it was the kind of sappy moment Lizzie and Hope both tended to hate, and Josie knew their problems were far from over, but in that moment, she was able to convince herself that the three of them were going to be okay— as long as they stayed together.

✘✘✘

The sound of the door opening woke Hope, but she didn’t move right away, struggling to shrug off the haze of exhaustion clouding her mind. Then, the familiar rhythm of Josie’s heartbeat reached her, and Hope allowed herself to relax as her girlfriend shut the door and padded across the room to the bed.

Alyssa had disappeared after the ritual, and Hope had fully intended to track her down and make it clear what the consequences would be if she _ever_ tried to hurt Josie again, but their room had been empty when she’d arrived and the promise of her bed a little too tempting. 

She’d only meant to rest her eyes for a few minutes before going to find Josie, but apparently the day had taken more of a toll on her than she’d realized— hexes tended to do that to a person. 

“I’m glad to see everyone’s in such a celebratory mood.”

Josie’s voice was amused, and when Hope forced her eyes open, her girlfriend was standing at the end of the bed, smirking at her.

She raised an eyebrow in question, too tired to act annoyed, especially after the day they’d had. God, Hope never wanted to feel that way towards Josie again— being angry at her was exhausting, even if she hadn’t truly meant it.   
  
“Lizzie’s still mourning Sebastian,” Josie explained, smiling as she took off her shoes and slid into bed beside Hope so that they were lying shoulder to shoulder. Both of them were still in their school uniforms— Hope hadn’t even bothered to change out of hers before collapsing into bed. “I thought she’d be a little more thrilled about her plan working, but I think it was more of a distraction than anything.”

“Is she okay?” Hope forced herself to ask, tilting her head so that it rested on Josie’s shoulder. “You can go be with her if you want, I won’t mind.”

“Liar,” Josie crooned, her smirk growing a little. “No, really, she’ll be fine. She just needs to mope for a little longer, and then she’ll find someone new to obsess over in no time. It’s a vicious cycle.”

Hope couldn’t quite keep her eyes open as she laughed under her breath, and Josie must have noticed, because she curled herself into Hope’s side and said, “You okay?”

“Just tired,” Hope reassured her, allowing her eyes to close as she buried her head in the space between Josie’s neck and shoulder. She hadn’t allowed herself to fully take in the fact that her girlfriend was no longer at risk of being consumed by some myriad of dark magic until this moment, and it was definitely a relief. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Josie asked, her voice soft as she reached up to run her fingers through Hope’s hair.

Hope leaned into the touch on instinct, and it took her a moment to realize that Josie had asked her a question.

_Do you want to talk about it?_

Talk about what, exactly? The hourglass being gone? Clarke? Alyssa? The arguments they’d had while under the influence of her hex, the words they’d said that felt a little too true to ignore?

And while it wasn’t the most mature choice, Hope decided that the answer to every one of those questions was the same: _no, she really didn’t want to talk about it right now._

“You won’t hate me if I say no, right?” Hope asked, her voice half-serious, half-teasing. “I’m so tired that you’ll probably just win any argument we have... but maybe that’s what you’re going for.”

She’d meant it as a joke, but Josie’s breath caught, and her voice was a little too thick to be casual as she said, “I could never hate you, Hope. You know that, right?”

Hope froze at the raw emotion in her girlfriend’s voice, lifting her head to look Josie in the eyes as she said, “Jo, of course—”

But Hope didn’t get the chance to finish what she’d been about to say, to tell Josie that _of course_ she knew that, that it would be physically impossible for her to ever actually _hate_ Josie, no matter what they said to each other when they were angry. 

She didn’t get the chance to say any of that, because there was a flash of light, and then she was suddenly lying in bed alone, her body cold where it had been warm a moment before.

Because just like that... Josie was gone. 

✘✘✘

When Josie opened her eyes, she was still lying in bed, but Hope wasn’t beside her anymore.

The sheets were different, too. In fact... the entire _room_ was different. There were no clothes spilling from the drawers, no art supplies scattered over every possible surface.

Still, Josie couldn’t resist calling out for Hope, praying that she would answer.

There was no response, just her voice echoing off the walls. 

_Maybe I’m dreaming._

Yes, that must be it. She’d fallen asleep in bed with Hope, and she just had to wake herself up.

But as soon as Josie came to that conclusion, the door slammed open, and Lizzie burst into the room, a look of panic on her face.

“Jo?” She said, her voice caught somewhere between dread and relief. “What’s going on? Where are we?”

Josie still wasn’t quite sure if she was dreaming or not, but there was a slow, sinking sensation growing in her gut at the sight of Lizzie standing in the doorway. Last she’d checked, dreams weren’t something even they shared.

She opened her mouth to tell Lizzie she had absolutely no idea, but was interrupted by a loud _crack_ coming from the floor below. 

Lizzie flinched, her expression a mirror of Josie’s own unease as she turned and headed out the door to investigate. Josie took one deep breath, and then she followed.

The sound had come from the front hall, and Josie wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but it definitely wasn’t for her father to be standing in front of the fireplace with a makeshift stake in his hand. 

“Dad?” Lizzie said, racing down the steps towards him. “Where are we?”

Alaric hesitated a moment before answering, and Josie felt the coil of dread in her stomach wind itself even tighter. 

“We’re in a prison world.”

No, no, they _couldn’t_ be. That didn’t make any _sense_. 

“I thought you said the worlds would be identical,” Josie reminded him with a shake of her head. 

“It’s not the one you made today. It’s the one you made when you were kids.”

Josie froze, staring at her dad as the realization hit her.

“Why are we here?” She demanded, struggling to keep her hands from shaking. If her dad was right, this was bad. Very bad. 

“I’m guessing Alyssa Chang wants to teach me a lesson,” Alaric said with a sigh, glancing around the room as if he’d seen a ghost. 

“For what?” Lizzie asked, sounding just as confused as Josie felt.

“The miseducation of young minds.”

It wasn’t their dad who had answered.

No, it was _Sebastian_. Lizzie’s vampire boyfriend, who according to their father, had left the Salvatore School with no intention of returning. 

Josie turned to her sister, who looked like she might faint at the sight of Sebastian standing in the doorway, smiling at her. 

“Hello, Elizabeth,” he said, taking a step towards them. “Fancy meeting you here.”

✘✘✘

When Hope was little, her mother had taught her different techniques for managing her emotions.

Because as the daughter of a thousand year old vampire with a werewolf’s temper and the granddaughter of a homicidal witch who’d practically invented dark magic, it was suspected that Hope would have some trouble controlling herself.

Most of the time, she was able to keep herself under control. She’d listen to her mother’s voice in her head— _breathe, take a break, listen to your heartbeat. Pull it together, Hope._

But sometimes, her emotions got the best of her, and she lashed out.

And Hope was used to being angry, but this... this was an entirely new brand of anger, and one she wasn’t going to bother controlling.

It was the same feeling she’d had when she’d learned Roman and his mother had kidnapped her mom, or when she’d walked into that clearing and saw her dad holding a white oak stake over his own chest. 

Only this time, Hope wasn’t going to fail. 

Because someone had taken Josie from her, _stolen_ her, and she had a fairly good idea who that person was.

Hope was lying in bed when Alyssa walked through the door, smiling to herself. Then, with one wave of Hope’s hand, she went soaring through the air and slammed into the wall above the fireplace. 

Alyssa wasn’t smiling anymore.

And neither was Hope, who slowly stood from her place on the bed and stalked across the room towards the witch, one hand still pinning her to the wall— and no, she wasn’t being gentle about it.

“I think,” she said, letting her voice linger on the words, giving them just enough bite to make Alyssa flinch. “It’s time we had that talk about boundaries.”

Alyssa was struggling against her hold, trying in vain to break free, but behind the anger in her eyes, Hope could see her fear— she knew this wasn’t going to end well for her.

Because the most important thing her mother had taught her was that you couldn’t leave the people you loved to die. 

Hope was going to find Josie. No matter what it took. 


End file.
